Outfoxing Fire
by The Fire Dancer
Summary: Amid the backdrop of a looming war between humans & mutants, enemies become lovers, a chemical weapon is created & all are forced to decide where they stand. Give into the flames of desire, or not? Save the humans... or not?
1. Prologue

A/N.. Hey everyone, this is my first fanfic ever so I'm not sure how it'll go.. Hope you like it so far! It's yet to be finished, depending on what reviewers think.. (hint, wink). R&R, constructive criticism only please!  
  
Also, to let you know what's going on: This is set post X-2. The first chapter is sort of a dream-like sequence, that seems really vague, random and pointless but it's actually important. A main subplot is the developing relationship between John/Pyro and an original character. So yeah, Pyro/oc. But not a pointless never-ending romance. I've tried to include all characters. Read on for more, baby.  
  
Oh yeah, and I don't own the X-Men, nor any other Marvel/Hasbro characters. I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction otherwise, hey??  
  
*-*  
  
_A flash. Like lightning. It was so fast it took a while for Pyro realise that the movement was human - not light. In and out, and it was gone. Stunned, all he could do was blink and stare uncomprehendingly. Suddenly, the flash of light streaked past once again, drawing to a sudden halt opposite him.  
  
It was an intruder. Some kind of mutant, but one not from the Brotherhood, thus, an enemy. Igniting his lighter with the flick of a thumb, Pyro held a flame ready....  
  
And in the instant the lightning-like movement ceased, for a moment he saw the image of a young girl materialise before him. She stood calm, surprising still after those extraordinarily rapid actions. Her dark eyes stared into his as she gave him a slow, deliberate and almost playful wink. She was beautiful, and he was compelled. But just as suddenly as she appeared, she vanished once again into a streak of light. Pyro gaped after her.  
  
The flame remained in his hand for some time, flickering feebly, as if he was numb..._


	2. As fast as lightning

A/N: applauds And a big thanks to my reviewers

A/N: applauds And a big thanks to my reviewers! ;) Very much appreciated. So here's chapter 3, a long one. BTW, I still don't own the X- Men. I'm workin' on it.

Today both the junior and the senior classes of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters were at one of their first excursions for months. Ever since the attack on the school last year, the consequential redeveloping had somewhat strained the school's budget. But now everything was nearly back to normal, and as if to accentuate that fact Professor Xavier had arranged for the students to visit a rocky outcropping south of the city, Tower Point, for their biology class.

Tower Point was an unusual formation of rocky cliffs, with spectacular views of the ocean, and bordered by dense shrubbery. Because of the good weather the attraction was fairly crowded with other visitors to the area. Whilst the junior students were abuzz with excitement, darting here and there, and the supervising teachers Ms Munroe and Mr Summers pointed out some interesting wildlife and stopped the occasional mischief maker, Rogue and Bobby stood apart from the group. Idle beside the picnic area, watching the tourists and students alike hovering around the viewing area, Rogue was the first to speak.

"You ok?" She glanced at Bobby, who had been silent for some time.

He gave her a half-hearted smile. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm just thinking about our last excursion. To the museum. Remember?"

She remembered. "John."

Bobby nodded, and looked down. "I miss that guy. I'd kill just to know what happened to him." Rogue wasn't sure what to say. She was surprised when John joined Magneto, of course, but something inside her had always seen it happening. Like his fiery mutation, John was too wild, too careless, almost arrogant, and never really seemed to fully fit in. Whether or not that was his own choice, was another matter. Rogue wrapped a gloved hand around Bobby's. Bobby grinned, turned his head towards hers, leaned closer.

A rumbling-like sound interrupted the two, and Rogue jerked her head away. It had come from one of the cliffs that overlooked Tower Point. Bobby, Rogue, along with all the other students, teachers and tourists, craned their necks to study the cliff. It was silent for a moment, when, with a thunder-like explosion, a cluster of rocks fell free and tumbled down the cliff. A few students jumped backwards, with the smaller rocks missing them by inches, but they couldn't be fast enough.

Bystanders screamed as the entire cliff began to cave in, rushing to get out of the path of flying rocks and debris. The thick and slow- moving crowd however, prevented escape for some. Rogue shrieked as she saw five people about to be buried in the barrage of rocks - three young children who'd been playing beneath the cliff, a teenage student from their class and their teacher Scott Summers! They couldn't possibly move in time!

Without warning, a blinding flash of light streaked through the panicked crowd and into the path of the rockslide. It was moving at such speed that at first Bobby mistook it for lightning, and thought for a moment that perhaps it had been generated by Storm. It hadn't. One by one Scott Summers, the teenager and the three children seemed to disappear in the flash, enveloped by the light, whilst the cliff continued to collapse. The crowd surged backwards, away from the crumbling cliff and the mysterious flash of light, but the individuals who had been directly in the path of the rockslide just seconds ago were now nowhere to be seen.

Finally the thunderous noise ceased. Rogue was shaking, and had her hands pressed to her mouth, urgently scanning the crowd that was now murmuring with incredulity. Bobby leapt forward suddenly, grabbing Rogue by the shoulder. "There he is!" he yelled, "Look!" Following Bobby's finger Rogue saw the crowd parting to reveal Scott Summers, who looked shaken but unharmed. And beside him stood the student who had been beneath the cliff seconds ago. Before Rogue could voice her surprise that bolt of light reappeared, and one by one, the two of the three young children, who had also been beneath the collapsing cliff, emerged beside Scott, safe. Finally the flash of light came to a stop, and standing in its place was a teenage girl, perhaps seventeen, who was holding the third child in her arms.

The girl looked around nervously at the mass of people, she could feel the burning stares of the crowd. Messy cascades of long, reddish-brown hair fell across her face and shoulders, making her dark eyes barely visible through the locks. She looked wild, almost self-assured, but under the stares of a crowd that far outnumbered her, she had the appearance of a frightened cornered animal.

"It was her," Rogue said quietly and needlessly, "She was that light. Somehow, she saved them."

A woman charged through the crowd, and grabbed two of the younger children whom the girl had just rescued. Presumably their mother, the girl turned to her, still holding the child in her arms. "Here-" she offered.

The woman snatched the child from the girl's arms, giving the startled teenager an icy glare. "Mutant!" she accused her shrilly.

For a moment it seemed that everybody froze in disbelief. Then the throng of people gasped and muttered to each other, while Rogue and Bobby exchanged looks. This girl was not a member of their school, but perhaps very soon she would be. Scott turned to speak to her, but before he could utter a word, the crowd's mutterings grew louder as they surged forward.

"She's a mutant... Freak... Dangerous... Ought to be locked up." Regardless of the fact the mutant girl had just performed an act of heroism, the crowd was now treating her like a criminal. The girl looked around at them, and for a brief moment her face looked hurt. But soon that look was replaced with an angry scowl, and she turned on her heel and stomped through the crowd, alone. Once she reached the road leading away from Tower Point she began to sprint. Her legs moved faster and faster, until they produced that blinding light everyone had witnessed before. And she was gone.

* * *

Scott was pacing Professor Xavier's office, while Storm stood back against the far wall. They had just finished explaining the day's events and the Professor was silent, waiting for Scott to continue. "The girl's a hero," Scott was saying. "She saved five lives! She's also a mutant. You have to find her. You have to!"

The Professor finally spoke. "She moved as fast as light, you say?"

Storm nodded to confirm this. "The children thought I'd struck the cliff with lightning."

"Hmm, with that energy, it won't be hard to find her. That's if she's stationary. There may be difficulty tracing her movements; if they are as quick as you've said, they will also be erratic. And if she is a runaway, as you suggested, she will be on the move. It may be some time before I can establish her exact location."

Scott sighed, but agreed. "Alright. As long as you find her. She saved my life," he repeated, "I didn't get to thank her."


	3. Fox

A/N: Thank you FireStarter, Kumiko, and RockerChica for you reviews! I'll be returning the favour! :) I finally got italics to work - whoo hoo!! No, I don't own the X-Men, blah blah blah... But I DO own Fox...

* * *

The good thing about living with a power-hungry mutant who devotes a substantial amount of time to plots of world dominance, is that he never really seems to care if you sneak out every now and then to mingle with the normal world.

Ok, maybe not MINGLE with anybody, but to just take a break from the take- over-the-world-schemes was good enough for John. Time to himself, freedom of choice, as well as attention - that's the strange combination that he needed the most, and that's probably why he left Professor Xavier's School for the exciting world of Magneto. Although Magneto seemed a little too crazed with ambition sometimes, he always took the time to give John a little attention here and there, compliment him on his skills, train him, and, if need be, Magneto knew how to back off and give John space. It was everything an unstable mutant with raging hormones could ask for.

Back at Mutant High John was just another teenager in the crowd, where the needs of the many far out-weighed the needs of the few. He blended, he became a blur when he needed to stand out. Showing off his mutant ability to manipulate a naked flame was his only way of getting that ounce of individuality. And even then he was reprimanded for 'showing off', and put back in his place.

The anger and hatred at the world inside him remained buried, undealt with. Like his mutation, it was a flame never quite put out. Back there, John was suffocating in his own flames of hatred, and Magneto, weird as it seems, was a breath of fresh air.

But today Mystique was going to the mainland for supplies, and John was going to venture from Magneto's island for the first time since Alkali Lake. Mystique had questioned his motives for coming with her at first, but John simply replied, "A guy's gotta have a little fun." The sultry shape- shifter seemed satisfied with that.

Mid-afternoon, Mystique flew to New York in a small aircraft, with John in the passenger's seat, staring blankly out the window.

"After we land just outside the city," Mystique broke the silence, "We split up from there."

"Huh?"

"I'll take care of the supplies," she said, "You just go and do... whatever you do. Be back there at midnight."

"Oh, ok." John frowned at Mystique quizzically, wondering what she was up to. She avoided eye contact, quickly morphing into the shape of a curvaceous young blonde as land drew near. He guessed she must have had her own plans for fun.

* * *

The pulsating music could be heard thumping from blocks away. As if engrossed by the noise John had followed the sound and it had led him here. He now stood in the shadows opposite a cheap-looking club, watching groups of young people loitering outside and drunk trouble- makers stagger past. John could see flickers of the energetic coloured lights occasionally when the doors were opened but other than that the streets were relatively dark.

He had just been contemplating going inside himself when he heard a shout, followed by cheers and hoots from the alleyway down past the club. Curious about the commotion, John headed that way in long confident strides, his trusty lighter giving him a sense of invincibility.

Pausing at the entrance to the alley, John peered inside to see what appeared to be a large group of street kids congregating around two young people. One was on the ground, an angry boy with cropped black hair and an even blacker scowl. The other caught his attention immediately - she was a much younger looking girl, reddish-brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, wearing a plain black singlet top, a silver armband and dark jeans. She standing back with her arms folded in a somewhat arrogant matter.

It was then John noticed that the crowd was divided in two, the boy's gang on one side, urging him to get up, and the girl's gang on the other, cheering her on. John focused on the girl who was now grinning at the boy on the ground. She was cocky and self-assured, but there was something about her striking looks and bold charisma that made the usually cool and composed John's mouth hang open.

The fallen boy raised himself up onto his elbows, spitting blood from his busted lip onto the ground beside him. "Double or nothing," he hissed.

_Money, _John realised. They were fighting for money, members of each gang placing bets on who would get knocked out first. The girl raised an eyebrow at the boy's demand, then gave a slight nod. The teenagers cheered as he got back to his feet, angrily wiping the saliva and blood from his mouth.

Without even getting into a defensive stance, the girl waited patiently for the aggressive boy to attack. And predictably, he did. Giving a violent yell, the boy lunged for her. She nimbly dodged, stepping to the other side of the alley. The boy's momentum almost caused him to run into a wall. The girl's supporters laughed hysterically as he swayed dangerously, turning around to locate the girl.

John's lips curved into an amused smile as once again that girl stood, calm, almost bored, waiting for her challenger to attack. This time her teenage attacker didn't run at her and instead closed the gap between them slowly. Giving another war cry, he swung his fist clumsily, aiming for the girl's face. Quick as lightning, she had caught his arm and twisted it in such a way that the boy was suddenly pinned to the ground. He screamed as she twisted, the band of street kids shouting and whooping. Then she kicked him in the side, sending him once again sprawling to the ground.

The girl's onlookers had started a chant. "Fox! Fox! FOX! FOX!" they repeated, growing louder with each yell. _So,_ John thought, _I have a name now. Fox._ He examined the long red strands of her hair, her agility and shrewd behaviour, and decided the name suited her.

The girl glanced at her 'fans', smiling, when her eyes fell on John's, who was standing at the back of the alley, far apart from the groups. She frowned slightly, unable to recognise him, while John stared coolly back at her. Suddenly she gave him a wicked grin and in that moment something passed between the two. John let a slow smile spread across his face in reply, but Fox turned away. The moment was lost.

Meanwhile, the beaten boy scrambled frantically to get back on his feet.

Fox narrowed her eyes at him. "Just call it quits now, ok?" she said warningly, "You're gonna get hurt."

The boy grimaced. "Don't tell me what the fuck to do! Once more!" he challenged her menacingly. Although John doubted the girl would need his help, he held his lighter ready, determined that this guy wouldn't harm Fox as long as he was around.

Fox sighed. "No, I mean it man. Back off now."

The boy grunted something incomprehensible, shook his head violently, and attacked.

This time Fox retaliated in full force, blocking, striking, spinning, kicking, and punching; each move connecting to their target with perfect precision. John's eyes widened as the true capability of this girl came into play. The boy was beyond beaten, but she kept going, fuelled by sudden fury, her limbs moving so fast that they were becoming a blur.

"_Fox!_" a female bystander yelled, one from Fox's own gang. "You've won! That's enough!"

Fox froze, realised the damage she had already done, and allowed the boy's body to once again hit the ground. She stared emotionlessly at him as he moaned in pain, then walked calmly to an older boy in the crowd, apparently the other gang's leader.

"Yo Jay, you owe me some money!"

He scowled at Fox as one of the fallen boy's friends helped him stand. "You nearly killed him, bitch."

"Yeah, well he _asked_ for it, bitch," she shot back. "So where's my cash?"

Swearing to himself, Jay dug into his pockets, pulled out a thick wad of notes and pressed it into her hand. She grinned at him, gave him a wink, and rejoined her own group.

John leaned back against the far wall of the alley as the mob of street kids began to disperse. The losing gang filed out first, not noticing John, too busy grumbling about their defeat. Fox's gang remained in the alley, chattering excitedly about her latest win.

"Let's hit the club to celebrate, baby!" one guy suggested, eyeing the countless notes in Fox's hand. She chose that moment to look up at John again, who was still standing in the same place, watching her. Only this time, the eyes of her friends followed her gaze.

"Who's that?" a punky-looking blonde girl asked, raising her eyebrows at John.

"One of Jay's losers," another guy replied, mistaking John to be from the rival gang. He laughed spitefully, then broke away from the group, striding across the alley to come face-to-face with John. "You ain't getting' ya money back, fool!" he hissed, fists clenched.

John glared back at him, feeling the uncontrollable fire inside him simmer and heat up. "You wanna get outta my face, junior?" John replied angrily, flicking his lighter on.

"JUNIOR?" the boy repeated. He glanced scornfully at John's lighter. "Aw, you gonna burn my eyebrows off or somethin'?"

"Hey, back off, Lee." Her voice quickly silenced the whole alley. Fox had stepped in between the two. She glared at Lee for a moment, then grinned at John, that same, self-assured smile that had first caught his attention.

"Friend of yours, Fox?" Lee asked, a hint of hostility still wavering.

"Yeah," she retorted, despite having no idea who John was, "We're old friends."

A couple of girls started giggling while Lee shrugged. Fox tossed the wad of cash into his hand. "Hit the club, I'll be over there later." The group exchanged looks, agreed, and made their way out of the alley, giving John and Fox questioning looks of their own.


	4. Fire and Electricity

A/N: Hey ppl, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I got hit with Mid Year Exams(Psychology, whoa!), then my computer crashed. But I'm back now! You may have noticed I've moved all the chapters around(I got sick of my old set-up), so the Default/Prologue are now combined, old Chapter 2 is now where Chapter 1 is, the old Chapter 3 is now where Chapter 2 is... etc. Anyway, here's the next chapter! It's a little... um... Romeo/Juliet-y... sorry. I'm a poet at heart. Thanks all my reviewers as well, you're all fantastic!!

Dude! I don't own the X-Men! Fox is mine!

* * *

Fox and John stood facing each other for a while, when John finally spoke. "You've got a mean high kick happening there, kid."

Fox gave him an impish smile. "And who exactly are you?"

"An old friend, remember?" She laughed at that. "My name's..." he paused. "Pyro."

"Pyro?" she repeated, assuming it was a street alias. "I'm-"

"Fox, I know."

"Yeah, I guess you do." There was a short silence, and Fox took the opportunity to really study Pyro. He looked as wild as she was, deep brown eyes filled with the attitude, edge and hidden anger of most street teens; but then they were juxtaposed by his slicked hair and clean, almost trendy clothes. Her male street friends would've called him a pretty boy - mainly because next to Pyro they looked like hobos. Fox's eyes wandered to what Pyro was fiddling with in his hand. The Zippo lighter.

"You smoke, huh?" she asked, rummaging in her pockets and pulling out two cigarettes. She offered him one, and held the other to her mouth, ready.

A slow, fiendish smile spread across Pyro's face. "Sure."

"Can I have a light?"

He chuckled inwardly. "Sure you can..." Pyro flicked his lighter on with ease, but at the last moment snatched the flame out with his hand, offering it to Fox in his palm, smirking. She wasn't the only remarkable being around here.

Fox gasped, dropping one of the unlit cigarettes. She stared at this little ball of fire floating above Pyro's hand. Sensing her amazement, he couldn't resist his habit of showing off. Pyro slowly extended the flame, so it grew about 10 inches in height, elongating it until it was long and skinny, then shrunk it down to its original size. Fox gaped. Impossible...

"You want a light or not, Foxy?" he teased her.

The startled look vanished from her face and was replaced with one of knowing. Fox returned his smirk, lighting her cigarette with Pyro's flame. She took a long drag, then spoke, blowing smoke out with her words. "Pyro. Makes sense now. As in pyromania. Pyrolysis." She sort of half-laughed. Then, shaking her head, she stated the obvious. "You're a mutant."

But she said it not menacingly, not condescendingly, more matter-of- factly. Fox raised an eyebrow, a look she had mastered quite well. "And so am I."

"You?" Suddenly it all made sense, her sharp reflexes, her fighting skills, the way she sometimes moved so fast, you barely saw it. She was too young, too petite to be that fit of her own accord. Pyro thought of his ex-team mate Wolverine. "You have metal in your bones or something?"

"What? No, nothing like that. It's not as cool as your power, but..." she trailed off, taking a drag of her cigarette again. Slowly exhaling the smoke, she grinned at Pyro - and vanished. A bolt of lightning flashed across the alleyway, up-down, up-down. Suddenly the flash of light halted right in front of him. Fox materialised and was standing opposite him again. It all happened so fast - just under two seconds - that it took Pyro a while to grasp what had just occurred.

"I can move as fast as lightning. Faster, if I want."

He was impressed, but did his best not to show it. "And the fighting?"

"Oh, I've been doing martial arts for years. I've always liked it, since I was like, eight. That's what built up my strength and those moves. The speed thing sure helps though. It's how I survive out here." Fox discarded her cigarette on the ground, stepping on it gracefully.

She looked up again at Pyro, her dark eyes this time were full of soul, as if they were asking him questions she was too afraid to voice. They were beautiful, hypnotic even. Pyro returned her intense gaze wordlessly, feeling a stab of desire inside him. He saw something in her he'd never seen before. They'd talked to each other for a span of about ten minutes but Pyro felt that he'd known her all his life. Fox knew him, identified with him, felt for him... and in that instant something leapt between the two.

Impulsively, Pyro stepped towards her, his eyes tracing the curve of her lips, shocked at how the flutter of electricity within him magnified as he got closer to her.

Fox realised his intentions, and couldn't handle being this entranced by a stranger. She stepped back, shook herself out of her daze, and looked at her feet. She'd never felt like this, it thrilled her, almost frightened her. She had to get away. "I... I gotta go..." she murmured, feeling Pyro's burning eyes on her. Fox tore herself away from his spell, looking up at him, trying to regain her former brash edge. "I'll see ya 'round, Pyro."

"Wait-" He reached out to make her stay, but with a mischievous wink and a flash of light, she was gone. All Pyro could do was stare after her, wondering if Fox had been just a wishful figment of his imagination.

* * *

_Be back here at midnight._ John was positive Mystique had said that, but a quarter of an hour later, the empty field she had landed the small aircraft remained dark and empty. John sighed, fiddled with his lighter some more, eyes darting around the field in search of his blue comrade. He leaned against the small plane, was annoyed that Mystique was taking so long, and let his mind wander to other things... the nightclub... the fight... Fox...

A rustling from the dense grass caught his attention, and Pyro turned his head expectantly. A few metres away he could make out the silhouettes of two figures trudging through the dark towards him, and he straightened suddenly._ Wait, two? _Pyro enlarged the flame in his hand, lighting up the path before the two figures. One was Mystique, a single bag slung over her shoulder, yellow eyes glowing eerily in the dark. The other he did not recognise, a tall African American woman, who was wrapped in a white coat and carrying a metal case.

Pyro eyed the stranger mistrustfully, and called out as soon as Mystique was within earshot. "Who the hell is this?"

The woman felt Pyro's sharp gaze on her, and looked to Mystique.

"She's with us, Pyro," Mystique replied, her multi-octave voice echoing strangely into the night. "Drop the attitude."

He stepped forward to allow Mystique to get to the plane, but the woman mistook Pyro to be introducing himself.

"I'm Dr Reyes," she said, grinning and extending a hand.

Pyro frowned, glanced at the outstretched hand but declined to take it. As the doctor slowly lowered her arm he asked, "_Doctor? _What's going on Mystique?"

"Get in," Mystique answered, unlocking the plane. "I told you, she's with us. So no more questions, no more attitude, got it?"

He looked to Dr Reyes quizzically, but she avoided his eye and stepped delicately inside the plane, still cradling that metal case to her chest. Pyro shrugged, and then followed her. "I'm Pyro," he muttered to the doctor, slamming the door. The doctor seemed satisfied, and leaned back leisurely in her seat.

He didn't know what was going on, or who this woman was, but Pyro knew enough about Mystique and Magneto to know she was only there to serve the Brotherhood's interest. It looked like yet another attempt to bring down humanity to Pyro. The next few weeks could be interesting.


	5. Night whispers

A quick A/N: And another chapter! Thank you reviewers, though I haven't seen you around much lately...(lol) OK, first I have a couple of things you probably should now about this chapter:

1. If you read this and it makes no sense, chances are you haven't read chapter 4. I moved all the chapters around, remember, so the old chapter 4 is now chapter 3, and... bla bla bla, yeah. Just flip back a chappie to make sure you've read this chapter's predecessor.

2. I've realised that my O/C Fox has powers suspiciously similar to a real X-Men character, Quicksilver, owned by Marvel. This wasn't intended! I've tried to make them as different as possible.

3. I based 'Dr Reyes' on a real X-Man character I read about, I know she was a doctor, and I remember what her powers were. I just improvised the rest, you know, personality... etc. So I sorta half-own Dr Reyes, while Marvel owns the other half... if that makes sense.

Ok, enough of my babbling! I don't own X-Men in any way, shape, size or form.

* * *

Fox had her only two bags packed, filled with clothes and her few possessions. Few, because she found possessions to be trivial, a waste of time and space. In fact, many of the hidden pockets of her bag were lined with the masses of cash she had won/stole throughout her life on the streets, so she could easily obtain more belongings, and she was sure to survive, wherever she went.

However tonight Fox didn't know where she was going. She'd awoken in the middle of the night to hear a voice calling her, her name being spoken softly within the shadows of the small abandoned house she had crashed in with a few of her street friends. This whispering seemed to be coming from inside her mind, which unnerved her even more, but gradually the voice grew more compassionate. It comforted her, it beckoned her with promises of a true home, of acceptance... Without giving it a second thought, Fox had packed her bags and set off into the night, leaving a simple note of goodbye to her friends.

She had to follow the voice, it held too much promise, too much of her destiny, for her to ignore it.

It was midnight. Inky darkness and eerie silence now shrouded 'Mutant High'. Sitting in the kitchen, the knock at the door was so quiet and unexpected that Bobby and Logan at first thought they had imagined it. Logan looked considerably on edge - after all, the last time he had been sitting with Bobby in the kitchen in the middle of the night was the night of the raid. Bobby looked towards the door expectantly.

The knocking returned, louder and more anxious this time. Bobby stood up only to be stopped by Logan. "_I'll_ get it," he said gruffly. "You stay here." Bobby watched as Logan disappeared down the hall. Then he followed him.

Logan paused at the front door, then yanked it open, fists clenched, preparing to attack. Then, just as quickly, he dropped his fists by his side. A scruffy-looking teenage girl was standing in front of him. She'd been travelling a while, her hair was messy and she had two bags carelessly slung over her shoulder.

"Uh..." she stammered, a single eyebrow raised, taken aback by Logan's aggressive greeting, "Hey. I was just, um... " _Following a voice in my head?_

Logan frowned, looking her up and down. "This ain't a Holiday Inn, kid."

She looked at her feet. "Yeah I know, but... I heard this was a place... I mean a school, for... people like me."

Finally grasping what she meant, Logan softened slightly. "You're a mutant?"

She nodded feverishly. Logan stood to the side, a silent gesture to allow her inside. Suddenly a shout could be heard from behind Logan, and he spun around.

It was Bobby. "It's you!" he yelped excitedly, pointing at the girl. "You're the girl from Tower Point!"

That's when the seventeen-year-old girl found herself being hauled through the impressive halls of Xavier's school.

Logan ran after Bobby. "Wait wait wait, what the hell are you doing? What girl?"

"The lightning girl!" Bobby replied breathlessly, not bothering to explain to Logan. "Come on, we'll take you to the Professor... or maybe Scott..."

"Kid, you can't just barge into the Professor's room like this with some girl..."

The girl was bewildered, with the over-excited Bobby on one side and the suspicious Logan on the other, but at the moment she was just happy to have been accepted for once. She wasn't really listening to Bobby, who was talking about how she'd saved his Biology teacher, and was more interested in observing her surroundings.

"Hang on, what's your name?" Bobby stopped suddenly, twisting around to face her.

She paused, as if deciding whether to give a real name or not. "Dakota. Dakota Fitzgerald. That's my real name. And save the jokes," she added hastily, "I've heard them all."

Logan raised his eyebrows at the name, but shrugged a hello as Bobby introduced himself.

"Welcome, Dakota," a new voice entered the conversation. Logan, Bobby and Dakota all turned to see Professor X himself, seated calmly in his wheelchair at the end of the hall, as if awaiting their arrival. "Though I believe you prefer 'Fox'. I had a feeling you would be turning up tonight."

* * *

Cold, dreary, hard metal. Monotonous, repetitive halls and rooms... _Could this place get even more shit boring?_ John wondered, drifting idly through the metal halls of the Brotherhood's lair. The main source of his amusement for the last three months was, literally, playing with fire. He's been training his skill, testing how far he could take his pyrokinetic abilities, and was pleased with the fact that he seemed to be growing more powerful. But what was the point if nothing was happening around here?

To fill in time John also took some pleasure in tormenting the newest Brotherhood recruit, the strange and somewhat reclusive Dr Reyes. It didn't take long for Pyro to discover that she was abnormally afraid of fire, nor did it take him long to learn of the doctor's own mutation - the ability to generate an energy 'shield' or force field around herself in times of immediate threat. However, powerful as her mutation could potentially be, the doctor usually scurried away when she saw Pyro approaching.

Meanwhile, Magneto had constructed her an immaculate metal laboratory, and from day one Doctor Reyes had been shutting herself away for hours on end inside. _Doing God knows what,_ John thought. Experimentations of some sort, obviously, but this was big. John could feel it. Whenever he asked questions however, he was only met with aloofness and secrecy. Whatever Magneto was planning, all John could work out was that it involved this doctor, and it was so surreptitious and significant that not even members of the Brotherhood(aside from Mystique) were granted information about it.

So while Pyro wandered around nonchalantly, his mind drifted back to thoughts of that girl in the alley, her words, her eyes... But just as quickly the daydream entered his mind, John pushed it away. He was never going to see Fox again, no point in getting any more infatuated than he already was, right? _She wasn't that pretty, right?_

Ok ok, so she was that pretty. But even so-

"_Pyro_." The sharp tone commanded authority, and John quickly abandoned his thoughts in order to give Magneto his full, undivided attention.

Turning around, John realised Magneto had been following him, and was now obstructing the space behind him. He noticed that Magneto also seemed to be in full battle gear, the dorky helmet, cape and all. He was even wearing the boots with metal soles that gave him the ability to levitate himself. _This guy sure likes to flaunt his powers._

"Magneto," John nodded, "What's shakin'?"

The elder man disregarded the comment. "We're heading inland."

"What? Why?"

"There are some... matters... that we need to tend to. In order help our good doctor. And your assistance, dear boy, is much required."

"Good, about time for some action around here." John flicked his lighter on, watched the flame for a moment, and then flicked it off. "When do we leave?"

"Immediately."


	6. Prove Yourself

A/N: Yo, just a quick thing or two. I've decided that instead of ignoring Jean Grey, I'm just going to pretend she didn't die in X-2. And also, this chapter contains minor references to both Anthrax and bioterrorism.

* * *

Sitting in a classroom full of other students, swinging her legs absentmindedly, toying with her pencil... To anyone from the outside Fox would've looked like a normal teenager, another student in an English class. Fox had long since abandoned her reckless street life for the sheltered life of Xavier's School for gifted youngsters, but much of her attitude, impatience and fiery temper had remained.

Even now, just three months after being 'summoned' by the Professor, and believing going back to school was the right decision for herself, Fox found her interest wavering. Sure, she was smart enough, and her fellow 'students' certainly were interesting, but studies just didn't appeal to her as much as action and adventure did. In fact, what really captured her attention was the prospect of being a part of the exclusive X-Men. That was what most of the students here aspired to, in fact, a few of them already were a part of the team.

Fox looked over her shoulder to fix her attention on Rogue and Bobby who were sitting together. They were two students who had already been initiated into the X-Men, and Fox longed to join them. Like metal to a magnet, Fox was drawn to the select and exciting world of the X-Men; she visualized flying all over the world in the Blackbird jet, fighting alongside other mutants, defeating bad guys...

"Dakota?" Ororo Munroe's voice interrupted Fox's daydream.

She blinked, looking around. "Huh?"

Ms. Munroe arched an eyebrow, then gestured towards the blackboard. "Would you like to point out some examples of persuasive techniques used by the writer here, Dakota?"

Fox hated her real name. She sighed and gave her trademark scowl, forcing her eyes to focus on what was written on the board. "Rhetorical questions," she answered plainly.

A surprised but broad smile spread across Ms. Munroe's face. "Good! Now, Peter, what would you say is the writer's purpose in..."

Sighing again, Fox sank back into her chair. Ten more months of this. She was grateful for a second chance at her education, but what she wanted more was to fly, to burn across the sky, free.

* * *

After class, Fox made her way to the open school grounds, which were just beginning to darken from the shadow of the setting sun. There were a few younger students playing basketball, and some others wandering around the grounds, but most had retired to their rooms. Fox dropped her schoolbag on a bench, then started her warm ups. A stretch, a bend; she worked at every muscle in her body until her limbs warmed up and loosened from eight hours of sitting in class. Then she began to jog slowly around the grounds, keeping a steady pace.

She looked around leisurely while jogging, admiring the impressive size of the school, the new archways and the lavish gardens. Then she increased her speed; from a jog, to a run, then to a sprint...

Fox pumped her legs hard, moving faster and faster, concentrating only on releasing the energy within her. And suddenly, the world around her seemed to slow down as her legs burst into luminosity, moving so fast she knew nobody could see her - only a blur of light.

_Four laps, five..._ Fox counted with gritting teeth, a mischievous grin staring to spread across her face. _Six, seven..._ her heart raced, she could feel the blood pulsing in her ears and the adrenaline running through her veins. _Eight..._ her muscles began to scream at her, her insides felt as if they were about to convulse - a sign that she should slow down. _Dammit,_ she thought, energy now draining, _almost there..._ Finally. Nine laps in full speed. Fox reluctantly slowed her pace back down to a regular sprint, then to a jog, and finally to a halt.

"Nine," she puffed to herself, leaning over to catch her breath. "Tomorrow - ten."

After a moment of recovery, Fox casually made her way to the bench, grabbed her bag and headed inside. She'd train every other hour of the day if she had to, but she was determined to prove herself and become an X-Man. No matter what.

* * *

Rogue and Jubilation Lee were sitting in their room, chilling out and gossiping. And, well, copying homework. Almost like normal teenage girls, save the fact they each had lethal powers. Jubilee was sitting on Rogue's bed, chewing gum and swinging her legs.

"'Know what?" she asked, her words partially distorted after talking with her mouth full. "This room is bad Feng Shui."

"Fungus what?" Rogue asked distractedly, meticulously copying Jubilee's chemistry homework.

Jubilee stood. "Feng Shui. You should move what's-her-name's bed away from that corner." She pointed to the window. "And over there. That gap behind her bed symbolises disaster, and really, really bad luck."

"Fox's bed?" Rogue looked up doubtfully. Fox was alright; a little too energetic maybe, kind of overconfident, sometimes even a smart ass... but Rogue didn't know how she'd react if she saw Jubilee had rearranged her belongings. She was well enough acquainted with Fox to know that she also harboured an explosive temper. "Just leave it alone."

"No really," Jubilee insisted, now making her way towards the bed. "When I was little, I mean really, really little, I wanted my bed to be in the corner. That night I had a nightmare, fell out and broke my arm. Seriously! It was 'cos of bad Feng Shui. There's like, evil spirits that lurk behind that gap."

Rogue muffled a laugh. "Bullshit, Jubes!"

"It's true! Fox will thank us. We won't move it far, just over to the window," Jubilee reasoned, grabbing hold of the bed frame. "C'mon, she's cool, she won't care. Work with me Rogue!" She held one end of the bed, and looked at Rogue pointedly.

"This is so stupid!" Rogue exclaimed, but stood up anyway and took hold of the opposite end. Together the two girls dragged Fox's bed away from the treacherous corner and hauled it alongside the window.

"There! She'll be grateful now that we got rid of those bad vibes!" Jubilee declared triumphantly.

"You have the weirdest obsessions sometimes, sugah," Rogue grinned, then her eyes fell on something that had fallen out from beneath Fox's pillow. "Hey, you dropped something."

Jubilee eyed the fallen object curiously, then snatched it up from the ground. "It's a photo!" she announced, examining it closely. "Aw, look! It's little Fox and her family!"

"What? Lemme see," Rogue said, seizing the photo from Jubilee's grasp. Peering closely, Rogue recognised a young Dakota Fitzgerald, about ten or eleven, hair long and deep brown, with no signs of the crimson streaks she sported now. She was grinning happily from underneath an oversized bandanna, holding an ice cream up to the viewer. Next to her stood a petite, Hispanic-looking woman, an arm resting on Fox's shoulder, an ice cream in her other hand. Seated on the ground was a boy about thirteen, face hidden by a pair of surf-brand sunglasses. A tall man stood in the background, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and holding a beer. The photo had been taken on a beach somewhere, with a bright and colourful beach umbrella making up the background.

"That's sweet," Rogue murmured, feeling a pang of yearning for her own family. "She must have kept this for years."

"Aw, isn't she CUTE?" Jubilee exclaimed. "She's so small!"

The sudden unlatching of the door caused Rogue and Jubilee's heads to snap around quickly. Fox walked inside, and froze when she noticed the changes to the room. "What the-"

"Fox!" Jubilee called out. "We moved your bed; it was bad Feng Shui. Hope you like the window seat. Oh hey, where was this photo taken?" She waved the picture before Fox's eyes. "You look so cu-"

"Don't touch that!" Fox suddenly yelled, lunging forward and snatching the photo from a stunned Jubilee. There was an awkward silence, while Fox studied the photo frantically, as if to make sure all the subjects were still there. "Sorry," she murmured, looking up at Jubilee guiltily. "Sorry Jubilee."

Jubilee raised her eyebrows, then said, "Uh... nah, that's ok. Really."

Fox sheepishly slipped the photo into her pocket, then looked around at the rearranged room. "Feng Shui huh?" she asked. A flicker of a smirk played on her lips, as she punched Jubilee playfully on the shoulder in an attempt to break the tension. "I like it."

Rogue finally let out a sigh of relief as Fox strode across to her cupboard and slung her bag carelessly inside. "So, you two coming down to dinner?" Rogue asked.

Fox glanced over her shoulder. "Not hungry. I'm going for a walk."

"Oh, ok. Well I guess we'll you... later?" Jubilee asked.

Fox winked in reply, spun on her heel and left the room as quickly as she had entered.

"Ok, I think she exercises just a _little_ too much," Jubilee commented once Fox had left, while Rogue shrugged in reply.

* * *

The steel doors lay straight ahead. Open. Fox's eyes darted around, looking for signs of others. Nothing but empty silence greeted her. Satisfied, she headed for the doors in long, confident strides. Suddenly, she felt another presence in the room and for reasons unknown, she panicked - quickening her pace. Once she had reached the elevator safely she spun around and hit the button on the panel, causing the doors to close swiftly.

_U, U for Underground._

A grin crept across her face as the elevator made its way to the forbidden lower levels of the school. All the students were eating dinner in the cafeteria, and presumably, the majority of the teachers were there as well to supervise. She had about half an hour to investigate underground Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

The elevator drew to a halt, and the doors parted. Fox froze for an instant, and scanned the halls cautiously, as if making sure nobody else was down here watching her. The stillness of the lower levels convinced her she was alone, and Fox bounded forward, the elevator doors slamming shut behind her. She studied the hallways carefully; they were much more sophisticated and complex-looking then the upper levels of the school. Steel, sturdy, with eerie blue lighting, Fox felt her smile growing larger. Now _this_ was interesting.

As she progressed down the hall, Fox noticed that to her left and to her right, glass cases were built into the walls, displaying the leather X-Men uniforms she had come to know so well. She slowed down slightly, reaching out to trace her fingers against the cool glass. Maybe one day Fox would have her own glass case, exhibiting her own uniform. Maybe.

This hallway seemed to stretch on forever, but she noticed it now starting to branch off a little. To her right was a pair swinging doors which she already knew lead to the medical wing. From there, you could go on the research laboratory. A little further on and to her left was a second hallway that lead to both Xavier's garages; one was used solely for the maintenance of The Blackbird jet, the other housed an impressive collection of motorcycles and cars. Fox paused at this hall, fascinated by both the jet and the cars, and was considering taking a look around the garages when the chime of the elevator sounded again.

She looked up at the metallic walls around her, and saw the reflections of Professor Xavier, Scott, Jean Grey and Ororo Munroe step out of the elevator. They hadn't seen her.

_Oh, shit! _Without thinking, Fox sprinted, tearing down the hallway, into a recently rebuilt meeting room, and from there into an empty storeroom. She closed the door quietly and leaned against it, puffing and listening for signs of the professors.

Their voices grew louder as they approached, then to Fox's dismay, Professor X, Scott, Jean and Ororo Munroe entered that very meeting room. She caught her breath and watched from behind the crack in the door as they each took a seat at the steel table, the Professor at the head position. _Great,_ she thought with a silent groan. She was trapped in an X-men assembly!

The Professor cleared his throat, then spoke. "X-Men, through the current revival of the Mutant Registration Act controversy as of late, it's come to my attention that Magneto and his old ways have resurfaced. He seems to have formulated his own means by which to solve this Mutant Registration matter." He paused, waiting for the X- men to absorb this, then continued. "Quite a drastic scheme I might add, and unlike anything we have encountered before. Yet, this is one threat we cannot possibly ignore."

A projector screen appeared in front of the meeting table, and presented the face and profile of a young African American woman to the X-Men team. "This is Doctor Cecilia Reyes, formerly a biochemical researcher of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She was discharged some time ago when her mutation was discovered during routine work."

"And what's her mutation?" Scott asked, Jean and Storm busy studying the doctor's profile.

The Professor manoeuvred his wheelchair around the table and towards the projection. The picture had since changed to surveillance footage of Dr Reyes escaping a research lab with a metal case. "Dr Reyes has the ability to generate an energy shield around her body in times of threat," the Professor explained. "This 'force field' can withstand energy weapons, projectiles, physical contact of any sort and - telepathy. Here you can see she escaped this laboratory with much ease, however she took something with her."

The footage zoomed in to focus on what Dr Reyes was holding in her arms. Fox frowned from behind the door, trying to make out what the importance of that metal case was.

Professor Xavier hesitated, as if deciding whether this piece of news would be too daunting for his out-of-practice team, then resumed his explanation. "This doctor has been developing a virus for some time - and thus Magneto has recruited her, purely for the purpose that I feared: bio-terrorism." The image on the screen changed to a detailed diagram of what Fox could only identify as bacteria of some sort.

"This virus Dr Reyes has developed, has the same properties of what we know as Anthrax, however this particular bacteria much more of twist to it. _Bacillus fatalicis_, otherwise known as Fatalite, only affects... humans."

Scott, Jean and Storm froze, looked at each other, then to the Professor. "Impossible-" Jean was starting to say.

The Professor wheeled his chair closer to the screen, and pointed towards the bacterium diagram. "No, quite possible Jean. These Fatalite spores have somehow been manipulated to ignore organisms with mutated DNA. That is, they seem to have no effect on mutants whatsoever, as if the doctor has controlled the ability of the virus to germinate inside a mutated being. Harmless for mutants, deadly for humans."

He faced the X-Men team, who were listening intently like a class of schoolchildren. "I'm not sure how this was done. What I do know is that this is an extremely rare form of infection that targets the lungs. Bacterial spores are usually inhaled, however sometimes an infection can result from entering the human body through a cut or graze of the skin. Not only are these spores silent, odourless, invisible and airborne, but they are also highly contagious, and once a disease like this is released, it could be nearly impossible to contain. A large scale epidemic could occur."

"It would be a disaster," Jean murmured.

"The end of the world as we know it," Ororo added. Fox almost laughed at the melodrama, however managed to stop herself. She was barely believing what she was hearing but watched keenly for the Professor to continue.

"It's obvious Magneto is going to use this virus as a weapon against the human race. However, although the virus is relatively easy to cultivate, something is preventing the Brotherhood from releasing it. This Doctor Reyes seems to be... missing something. Already our Brotherhood acquaintances have been seen infiltrating numerous biochemical research facilities, over the past few weeks. But they have not yet released the virus, nor do I sense they will in the near future..."

Fox narrowed her eyes, and her mind was suddenly lost in thought. _What the hell could they possibly be waiting for? They have one of the most potentially deadly epidemics ever in the palm of their hands... Something's missing? What research facilities?_

The meeting continued, outlining plans to intervene with the Brotherhood's next research lab break-in, but Fox's mind wandered.

If the Brotherhood weren't releasing the virus, it would mean that it hadn't been fully developed. _But it's just... bacteria... what more would need to be developed? It looks pretty complete to me._

Yet something was still missing from the virus, something the Brotherhood couldn't risk. _What couldn't they risk?_

The virus's exclusive characteristic was that it - supposedly - didn't affect mutants. Hesitation to release it would indicate that the bacteria might affect mutants after all. _They're just not sure. They can't be sure, it's too dangerous a risk. Even for the Brotherhood._

And the biochemical lab break-ins, what was the significance of that? To obtain more equipment? To test something? _If so, then what now?_

Fox shook herself. Her mind was swarming, roaming around in circles, rambling - she had to stop herself. The teenager always did this when she concentrated deeply on solving a problem - she'd unintentionally use her energy to increase the speed of her mental patterns. Only a span of about five minutes had passed but already the meeting had come to a halt, and the X-Men were separating and leaving the meeting room.

One by one, they each filed out, holding a folder or report or... Fox couldn't quite see what the files were but she knew they held information about the virus, the doctor, and the Brotherhood. She formulated a plan in her mind, while waiting impatiently for her teachers to depart. Only the Professor remained, his back to Fox. He also was on his way out but halted suddenly, and for a moment Fox was worried that he had somehow sensed her presence. She held her breath and tried desperately to silence her mind, in case the Professor had somehow heard her thoughts.

However after a minute the Professor too left, leaving the meeting room empty and dark. Fox breathed a sigh of relief and waited until the sound of footsteps (and wheels) far receded into the distance before emerging from her hiding place. Her eyes sparkled with zest. _Alright, this is your chance, Fox,_ she told herself. _Time to act._


	7. Espionage, flames and passion

A/N: Phew! I worked my arse off on this one! Hope you like it. Hey... psst... tell me, I'm not going Mary Sue or anything on you am I? Let me know, constructive criticism welcome... ;) Well, there's a bit of profanity in this chapter. Sorry, but it's all in context anyway. Oh yeah, and I've also decided to pretend Toad and Sabretooth didn't die either. Later!

* * *

They were being drawn together like two cells, perhaps by coincidence, perhaps by fate, or something else altogether. The fire manipulator was toying with his lighter distractedly aboard the silver helicopter. The girl who moved like lightning was hacking into a computer system trying to unravel the Brotherhood's enigmatic movements. Neither knowing that they were being lured to a defining moment of their lives.

A force beyond the capability of understanding was calling out to both adolescents, reaching out to them, and driving them together. Unwittingly, both the boy with the spirit of fire and the girl with a fox's slyness responded to the call, and were drawn in.

Now that the girl had succeeded in obtaining information on the computer, she knew what to do. She knew where she must go. All the girl had to do was devise her own plans to get there. And all the boy had to do now, was wait.

It wasn't long now, before the two would be united.

* * *

"Where the hell are we?" John finally demanded. Looking out of the helicopter window, he could see that they were well over land, and had been soaring over crowded streets, homes and parks for some time now. He was mostly concerned that they shouldn't be flying so close to ground; partly because the radiance of Mystique's blue complexion would surely attract unwanted attention, and also because they had narrowly missed clipping a few tall buildings.

"Won't somebody see us?" he asked, trying not to let the jumpiness show. "Won't they shoot us down? You can't just cruise around in unidentified aircraft around here... right?"

Both Mystique and Magneto glanced over their shoulders with irritation. Mystique returned to piloting the helicopter, while Magneto spoke. "I very much doubt anyone would be foolish enough to attack us..." his voice trailed off as he looked towards the other members of the Brotherhood. Pyro followed his gaze.

Sabretooth was seated in the back seat, looking as ferocious and menacing as a rabid wild animal. No, nobody would be stupid enough to try anything on Sabretooth, unless they wanted to be turned into a human hamburger.

Toad was sprawled ungracefully across his own seat, legs wide open, head cocked to the side. He blinked twice, then suddenly discharged his long green tongue to capture a lone fly on the inside of the helicopter window. With a rather disgusting slurping sound, Toad quickly pulled his tongue back into his mouth, swallowing the fly whole. Toad gave Pyro a wicked grin while Pyro shuddered. Not only was Toad impossible to catch and quite a skilled fighter himself, he was also behaved in such a sickening way that nobody would even want to come near him let alone fight him.

Dr Reyes had just witnessed the fly incident, but showed no sign of being grossed out. Instead she turned her gaze back to the windows. Her black hair was pulled back tightly into a bun, her white coat wrapped around her shoulders. She didn't seem like much of a fighter to John, but she sure could defend herself. That force field she produced endured anything you could dish. And besides that, there was something else about the doctor that John couldn't quite figure out. There was always that look of enraged intelligence in her eyes, yet she was so standoffish and reserved. She was the key to Magneto's entire operation, yet she barely said a word the entire time. Pyro liked to taunt her a lot, particularly with his fire throwing abilities, but he knew that there was a line, and he was smart enough not to cross it.

Then of course there was Magneto and Mystique, together they were a power duo, a force to be reckoned with. And with a Brotherhood team like this behind them, John realised that Magneto WAS right. Nothing could stop them now. Except maybe...

"The X-Men," Pyro murmured softly. It had been a while since he had thought of his former affiliation with the X-Men. He constantly ignored thoughts of his previous comrades and friends. Throughout Pyro's life he'd learned that it was always easier to forget the pain than to remember and deal with it.

"What about them?" Mystique asked abruptly, interrupting Pyro's daydream.

"They know nothing," Magneto answered firmly. "And, even if they did, there is nothing they can do. We're here."

Every Brotherhood member snapped to attention. Pyro leaned forward slightly to peer outside the helicopter window. The helicopter had begun its descent, onto the roof of what looked like a large science complex. John craned his neck to read the lettering on a small sign below. _Allansworth Biochemical Research Centre._

* * *

Fox abandoned the X-Men computer system and sprinted through the underground levels of Xavier's Institute, a bundle of papers in one hand. She was positive she'd uncovered the Brotherhood's next target, but wasn't sure how much time she had. She skidded to a stop suddenly, tilting her head slowly to study what had caught her attention. The glass case with the leather X-Men suits.

A bold smile spread across her face as she dropped the papers onto the ground, grabbed the glass door with both hands and wrenched it open. The musky smells of leather greeted her as she stood for a moment in silent awe. Then her eyes flitted from uniform to uniform, trying to judge which one would be her size. After careful consideration she selected the female suit that looked the smallest, and with a flick of a zip, she was wearing it.

She paused, studying her reflection in the glass. An adult Fox was looking back at her, an 'X-Man'. She gave her reflection a fiendish grin. _I'm gonna be in so much shit for this!_

She scooped up the papers, left the case ajar and resumed running down the steel halls. Suddenly something else brought her to a halt.

"How the hell am I gonna get there?" She could've punched herself for overlooking such a crucial detail. Fox looked around, hoping to find some sort of answer. The jet was undeniably out of the question, as was asking somebody else for a ride. This was something Fox felt she could only do on her own. She marched inside the garage when her gaze fell upon the rows of cars and motorcycles that were lined up neatly.

Granted, she didn't have any sort of licence. But she knew how to drive a car, and her street friend Lee had taught her the basics of handling a motorcycle. For each vehicle, a corresponding set of keys hung on the wall behind it. Fox pondered for a minute, then with a thought of _oh, yeah!_ she chose a simple-looking motorcycle, and seized the keys from the wall.

Kick starting the motorbike, she wrenched the throttle and skidded at a recklessly fast speed in a u-turn.

"Ok... how do I get out of here again?"

* * *

Pyro staggered from the helicopter, twisting his head around to shoot an angry glare at Toad who had attempted to trip the teenager with his tongue. "You wanna watch it, Frog Man!"

Toad gave a rude chuckle, and was about to retort when Dr Reyes stepped silently past. Her unnervingly composed voice quickly silenced both Toad and Pyro.

"This is no time to be fucking around, idiots," she snapped, stalking past Pyro and heading to the door where Magneto stood.

John stared at the doctor as she disappeared through the door. Half of him found hearing the calm and collected Doctor Reyes say 'fuck' so incredibly funny, that he wanted to burst into uncontrollable, hysterical laughter. The other half of him was dumbfounded by the doctor's sudden aggression and edge. _Maybe she just gets this way around labs,_ he thought, finally advancing towards the rooftop door as well.

* * *

"Scott, assemble the X-Men."

Ten minutes later Scott, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Bobby and Rogue crammed into the Institute's elevator, with the Professor at the door. Logan had opted to stay behind with Colossus to protect the school.

The doors opened, revealing the restricted lower levels of the school. Like a troop of army recruits each X-Man marched out and headed purposefully towards the glass cases which housed their uniforms. Scott and Storm opened each case, as every member of the team grasped their own suit. Only Rogue stood back, frowning.

Jean turned towards her, an eyebrow raised quizzically. "What's wrong?"

Rogue's frown deepened. "Where's my uniform?"

* * *

The roads were wet and slippery, which certainly didn't help the already struggling motorcyclist. Fox gave a shout and yanked the handlebar suddenly. The tyres gave a piercing shriek as she skidded out of the path of an oncoming vehicle and back onto the right side of the road. "Shit!"

One of the papers which she had tucked into her uniform was a map of the city, with directions on how to get to the secluded Allansworth Biochemical Research Centre. With one hand gripping the handlebar, Fox used the other to dig into her leather pocket to retrieve the map. The motorcycle almost skidded off course again, and continued zigzagging erratically across the wet road.

The screech of car horns blasted through Fox's ears, and she glanced over her shoulder to see a car behind her, trying to overtake. Looking forward again she realised that the road she was on merged with a busy and crowded freeway. "Oh... SHIT..." she repeated.

Discarding the map back into her pocket, Fox gripped the handlebar with both hands and yanked the throttle. The motorbike accelerated at an alarmingly fast speed, right into the stream of traffic. She guided the motorcycle between cars and trucks expertly, ignoring the blasts of car horns emitting from all around her.

She was screaming, most of her shouts indecipherable, but occasionally she'd yell, "MOVE bitch! I don't have time for this!"

In and out, she twisted the motorcycle between cars, almost clipping the review mirrors of a few. _The 316 turnoff, the 316 turnoff,_ a voice kept repeating inside her mind. The tyres skidded dangerously but Fox sped on, still slipping between the slower moving cars and trucks.

**316**. The red lettering leapt out at her, and Fox jerked the handlebars to steer the motorcycle left. Dodging a station wagon, she veered left into the 316 turnoff. The slippery road almost caused her to crash straight into a fence but Fox quickly regained control, straightening the motorbike and driving on unperturbed.

A green sign sat to her right. _Allansworth Research Centre, 30km._ A brash smile spread across Fox's face.

* * *

Pyro was unsure what he was doing here exactly. He was standing alone at a glass door, watching Mystique and Dr Reyes approach an old male scientist he didn't recognise. Of course, Mystique had morphed into a professional- looking young doctor herself, so the scientist didn't give her a second glance. However he was looking at Pyro, Magneto, Toad and more so Sabretooth with genuine fear in his eyes.

The youth couldn't hear what was being said from here, but it was clear that Doctor Reyes and this scientist were arguing. Pyro dug into his pocket and grasped the Zippo lighter, pulling it out. He toyed with it for a moment, watching the conversation between the two women and the scientist who was pleading now.

"Yo, Mags," Pyro called over his shoulder. The elder man glanced towards him, disdainful at the greeting. Pyro was about to ask Magneto what was going on, when he heard the unmistakeable sound of smashing glass.

Mystique had struck the scientist, sending him flying into a cabinet of glass equipment. The man hit the ground and lay still, as Mystique morphed to her blue self. Pyro stepped forward only to be stopped by Magneto.

"No young man, you, Toad and Sabretooth are to stay here, as back up if you will."

Pyro scowled but obeyed, letting Magneto 'float' past. He ignited the lighter, leaving a single flame exposed. Just in case.

"Scientists," Magneto called out, addressing the other researchers who were now cowering behind desks and metal work surfaces. "I think you'll find that if you all cooperate with us, no harm will come to you. What we want is simple. Are there any objections?"

Silence followed, as Magneto rose higher. "Hmm, shall I take your stunned silence to indicate 'no'? Very well Doctor Reyes, I believe we have established an understanding."

The doctor stepped forward holding a glass tube high in the air, and for the first time Pyro saw her assume her own tone of authority. "Alright, listen up..."

* * *

The teenager had dumped her motorcycle in dense shrubbery, and made the rest of the way to the research centre on foot. She studied the building, taking into the account the helicopter perched on the roof, and the fact that it was about eight pm, but all the lights were still on and none of the scientists appeared to have gone home.

The reception area was deserted, so Fox continued on, down the halls and to the main laboratory. Suddenly heard a faint shout could be heard, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Fox froze, trying to detect where the sounds had come from.

_This is crazy,_ she thought with sudden nervousness. _What the hell am I doing?_ The main laboratory, where the sounds had come from, was straight ahead. 'I can't just rock up in a X-Men suit!'

Her eyes searched the walls, and hanging by metals hooks were several starched white lab coats, hoods and protective goggles. "That'll work!"

A moment later and she was draped in white fabric, the goggles assuring that she wouldn't be recognised. Fox felt pretty stupid, but nonetheless strode towards the lab door and peered through the window. She picked out other scientists, who were working away at metal work benches with liquid substances. Then she distinguished the members of the Brotherhood standing around. The first individual that caught her attention was the elegant blue woman, whose golden eyes gave her a haunting beauty that made Fox shiver.

An older man who was wearing a strange metal helmet appeared to be floating in mid-air, and Fox felt her eyebrows rise. She assumed this guy to be the Brotherhood's leader, Magneto. The controller of magnetic fields. Fox suddenly straightened when she recognised Dr Cecilia Reyes. So, this was for real. The only question was, _what did she intend on doing about it?  
_  
Another plan started to form in Fox's mind.

Dr Reyes had instructed Sabretooth and Mystique to pack away various pieces of scientific equipment, as well as the chemicals that the scientists under hostage were now developing. The doctor didn't notice a new 'scientist' slip into the lab and blend into the surroundings.

She yelled out for one of the scientists to access the main computer system for her, and as it was opened Dr Reyes produced a single disk and began to download the contents of the company's entire biochemical research history. Meanwhile Sabretooth had loaded several metal cases with the equipment Dr Reyes wanted, and turned to her for further instruction. The doctor held the disk up for Magneto to see. "I think we're done here."

Pyro had been watching the scene unfold before him with the detached interest of a viewer watching a movie. It didn't feel real, he didn't feel as though he was a part of it. Yet here he was, an accomplice to a research lab infiltration. But what fascinated him more was what the scientists were being forced to work on. He'd pieced together the information that it was some sort of chemical, a dangerous one, that Dr Reyes must have invented. Pyro made a mental note to confront her once they were back on the island.

He was so lost in his concentration that he almost missed the spectacle about to come. In fact, nobody was expecting this.

One of the scientists, a short one, was approaching Dr Reyes in long, confident strides. "Get back," Dr Reyes said, narrowing her eyes at the scientist. "What do you think you're doing?" Mystique also noticed this stranger and began an attempt to intervene between the scientist and Dr Reyes.

In one swift movement, barely detectable to the eye, Mystique had been knocked to the ground. She slid across the floor and in that instant all seemed silent. Then the stranger lunged for the doctor, snatching the disk from her hands. Dr Reyes, having had no time to activate her shield, gave a screech, but by that time the stranger twisted out of her reach.

Mystique had leapt back to her feet and aimed a spinning high kick at the scientist. The stranger lightly dodged, and struck Mystique again, sending her flying onto a workbench. The attack had ripped the white hood off the stranger's face, and there stood, of all people, a brazen teenage girl. She gave Mystique an impish wink.

"You're a girl!" Mystique yelped accusingly.

The girl looked back at her, an eyebrow raised smugly. "No shit."

Before Magneto had time to act she'd vanished. Everybody blinked uncomprehendingly, trying to figure out what the hell just happened, when Pyro suddenly felt the strength of déjà vu lurch inside him. That face...

_A flash. Like lightning. It was so fast it took a while for Pyro realise that the movement was human - not light.  
_  
"STOP THIS INTRUDER!" Magneto commanded in a deep, booming voice, and suddenly Sabretooth was snarling like a rabid carnivore, Toad was on the ceiling and Mystique was sprinting, spinning and attacking nothing but air. Nothing could contain the bolt of light. Pyro felt the fire in his hand flicker feebly, but he stood, frozen to the spot. _It can't be her._

Magneto had sealed the metal doors shut in an attempt to prevent escape for the intruder. But she simply used her energy to gain more momentum, then burst through one of the glass windows.

Toad leapt out after her, followed by the stumbling Sabretooth. "Get her!" Doctor Reyes was screaming, her eyes spitting fire at Pyro. He didn't need to be told twice. He sprinted out of the broken glass in hot pursuit of Toad and Sabretooth.

Once outside in the darkness, Pyro expanded the flame in his hand. Toad had scurried through the shrubbery to the left in search of her, while Sabretooth charged roaring down the road. Pyro's eyes darted from side to side, then he followed his instincts and headed right, down a rougher dirt track.

He jogged along, growing further and further away from the research complex. _This is insane, she's probably miles away!_

"Pyro?" a familiar voice called out to him, that same voice that had been haunting his dreams.

He peered out into the night, and could make out her figure in the darkness. "It is you," she said, stepping forward.

Without really knowing why, Pyro snapped his fingers, and the tiny flame in his hand burst into a pulsating wall of fire, completely surrounding Fox and himself, and thwarting any escape routes she might have had in mind.

Fox had been raised in a Catholic school, and thus associated fire with hell and damnation. Panicked, she looked around in alarm, and leapt forward, away from the flames and towards Pyro.

She was fully illuminated now, and Pyro recognised what she was wearing. "Wait," he stammered, "You're an _X-Man_?"

"And you're a bad guy," she replied, looking him up and down.

This was a complication. But Pyro disposed of the thought, instead choosing to shrink the ring of fire that surrounded them both. Fox watched in fright as the flames crept closer to her, forcing her to draw nearer to Pyro. She didn't like this. Pyro was in control and he knew it.

For a moment Fox contemplated running through the fire, but soon abandoned the thought, silently cursing the X-Men for choosing flammable leather for their uniforms. She turned her head towards the source of the flames, the orange light throwing eerily beautiful shadows across her face. Pyro closed the gap between them in one bound, and reached for her face...

Fox panicked, and struck him. As Pyro reeled in shock, she threw another punch, this one badly aimed and lacking the strength she had intended. Pyro defended himself the only way he could, and sent two fireballs flying across to his attacker. Fox managed to dodge the first one, but her arm was singed by the second. She gave a cry of pain, her dark eyes huge and luminous. Pyro immediately regretted having caused hurt. He caught her in his arms as she staggered, pulled her closer to him, and gently brushed his lips against hers as the flames danced around them.

As Fox didn't pull away the kiss intensified, Pyro pressing his lips firmly against her own, and she sank helplessly into him. He wrapped his arms securely around her waist, as her arms circled his neck. The kisses grew passionate, hungry, and fiery, smouldering like the wall of fire. Their souls began to entwine amidst the kisses; reinforced by the dancing, flickering blaze. And it would've continued forever had it not been for the unmistakeably sound of grating metal.

Fox twisted away, looking around fearfully. "Magneto," she said. "You have to let me go."

Pyro said nothing, hands still on her waist. He could hear his name being called now, the crunch of metal drawing closer. But he couldn't part with her.

"Pyro," she pleaded. "Please, he'll kill me!"

She was right. He knew that. Pyro sighed, leaned in for one last kiss, and then with his lips still planted on hers, waved his arm to clear a path through the blazing wall of fire. Fox's eyes snapped open, and searched Pyro's one last time. Then she gave him that mischievous wink, and disappeared through the path he had cleared for her.

Pyro stared after her for some time, before finally reducing the wall of fire to a mere spark in the palm of his hand. Magneto was approaching, with numerous metal weapons he appeared to have carved out of the lab benches.

"The girl," he hissed.

Pyro ran a hand through his thick hair, leaving it to rest on the base of his neck. "I almost had her. I attacked her, but she was so fucking fast I... I'm sorry."

Magneto observed Pyro's face intently, and there was a long pause. Pyro was worried he wouldn't buy the story, but kept his face still, as if set in stone. Finally Magneto placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "This isn't the end. There will be another time."

And with that, Magneto turned and drifted away, back to the research centre. It was only after a few minutes of mindless following did Pyro remember the disk...


	8. The Dangerous Type

Fox shoved the dirty, smoky leather X-Men suit back into its case, wondering if the X-Men got their uniforms dry-cleaned. Then she trudged down the forbidden steel hall, entering the elevator and hitting the button for first floor.

She was worn-out, grimy and smelled slightly of smoke, but face shone with exhilaration. In her mind she replayed the fiery kiss over and over again, and in her hand she clutched the disk she had stolen from Dr Reyes. _I scored some info and picked up Pyro. Pretty good for my first mission!_

The elevator grinded to a halt at first floor, and Fox tramped out into the darkened halls. She was about to make her way to the kitchen in search of something to eat, when she stopped in her tracks. Seated in the lounge room were the entire senior X-Men team, and the Professor. She felt her gleeful smile drain away as they all turned to glance at her, faces stern and looking less than pleased.

_Uh oh._

"Miss Fitzgerald," Scott stood from his armchair and crossed the room towards her, arms folded. "Care to explain yourself?"

Fox stared straight back at Cyclops - even through the ruby sunglasses she could feel his angry glare. _Shit! What do I do? What do I say?_ Suddenly the look of apprehension left her face and Fox quickly plastered a smirk onto it instead. "Well, I was bored, so I went for a spin."

She looked from teacher to teacher; Scott was undeniably furious, Storm had a look of motherly concern, Jean was grim, Logan was somewhat amused and Kurt just looked uncomfortable. Fox could dismiss each of the X-Men with a careless eye roll, but when her gaze fell upon the Professor, she felt suddenly wracked with guilt.

Then the lectures began.

"You were _bored_? Do you know how much danger you put yourself into?"

"Anything could've happened to you out there!"

"Do you know how worried we've been?"

"Dakota, do you realise you've actually broken the LAW?"

Each reprimanding sentence bounced off Fox, as she sighed and leaned against the wall, bored again. _Yeah, yeah, yeah,_ she muttered inwardly, a scowl creeping across her face. Suddenly, the Professor held a hand up to quickly hush the X-Men, and wheeled his chair forward to face Fox.

"Dakota," he began, speaking in such a calm tone that it eased her immediately. "You must realise that this sort of behaviour is not tolerated at my school. You simply put yourself into too much danger."

She said nothing and broke eye contact, looking down at her feet. Despite her disdain for authority, Fox harboured enormous amounts of respect for Professor Xavier, and shrunk beneath his disapproving eyes.

"Why did you do it?"

She looked up again, her rich brown eyes meeting the Professor's cool blue ones. "I just wanted to help."

"To help?" Scott repeated. "You've set the entire mission back! You postponed our whole team! And you could've been killed!"

Fox shot him a glare of her own, then turned to the Professor, ignoring Cyclops for the time being. "Because I just wanted to be one of you. An X-Man," she added. "Well, maybe not you, Scott, but an X-Man nonetheless." Apart from a snicker from Logan, nobody said a word. "Well, I'm sorry, ok?"

Then she turned away, not allowing the others to see her face. The Professor spoke again, in a calmer, more understanding tone. "Dakota, although you did break the rules, I see that you have indeed helped our cause."

He was referring to the disk, which she suddenly remembered. She spun around eagerly, holding the disk up for all to see. "Oh yeah, that." She waved the disk in front of Scott, savouring his surprised expression. "I swiped this from good old Dr Reyes."

The X-Men could only stare, Jean finally standing to her feet. "You broke into a biochemical research centre - by yourself, while it was swarming with both scientists and Brotherhood mutants - and came back with that?"

Fox shrugged. "Well, yeah. Not bad, huh?"

Jean raised her eyebrows. "And how did you escape in one piece?"

"I'm... fast?"

Scott reached for the disk in Fox's hand. "What exactly is on it? Give it here."

But she sprang backwards, waving the disk just out of his reach. "No. Not until you tell me I did a good job. Even if I did DEFY you... Admit it, I did great. Good enough to be part of the team."

Everybody stared, flabbergasted at the haughty teenager. Fox looked around impatiently, waiting for somebody to respond, when suddenly the disk was wrenched from her grip by an unseen force. It hovered above her head, then floated safely across to Scott who gently plucked it from the air. Fox looked at Jean who crossed her arms over her chest pointedly. The teenager sighed. Obviously the crew needed time to chill.

"Alright," she said at last, "Take it. I'm getting something to eat." She turned on her heel and strode towards the kitchen in a huff.

"Dakota," The Professor called, immediately bringing her to a halt. She slowly looked over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. A deep, meaningful smile crossed his face, with his surprisingly bright blue eyes sparkling. He paused for what seemed like eternity, then finally said, "Welcome to the X-Men."

* * *

Moonlight slipped through the window and sliced across the bed, like a silver knife. Fox had been tossing and turning for an hour now. Her roommates had long since nodded off. That full moon was shining too intensely, as a result it was partly responsible for Fox's newly-acquired insomnia. But the window had no curtains, so she settled for uncomfortably shifting positions.

Finally, the teenager sat up in bed, surrendering to her restless side. She silently cursed Jubilee for moving her bed so close to the curtain-less window, then threw the tangle of blankets aside. Fox stumbled out of bed, and groped around in the dark for her packet of cigarettes and a lighter. A digital clock brightly displayed the time 1:17 am in bold red letters.

Fox threw on a pair of jeans, seized her smokes and a lighter then crept out of the room. She treaded softly down the silent dark halls, sneaking down a flight of stairs and pushing through one of the back doors of the school. The cool night air greeted her, blowing through her thin black singlet, but she was unfazed and headed across the basketball courts and to the far end of the school grounds, so as not to set off a fire alarm or anything.

With a flick of her lighter, she lit up a cigarette, leaning against one of the walls that surrounded the school boundaries. She inhaled the smoke slowly, savouring the sharp taste and reminding herself that she really should try to quit the habit. _I'll start cutting down this week,_ she told herself. Maybe.

Exhaling the smoke, she gazed over the still, lifeless grounds of the school. A small smile crept over her face as she replayed the events of the night through her mind. It played through her head as a blur: the X-Men meeting, the crazy motorcycle ride, the infiltration, the kiss... and of course, being finally accepted as the X-Men's newest recruit. _Well_, she corrected herself, _a probationary X-Man._ Which basically meant she had a lot of time and training to go before she was a full member.

She'd been lectured on responsibilities, what being an X-Man stood for, training and how she was to behave, but Fox hadn't given the dutiful side a second thought, and was only now concerned in the action. True, she was irresponsible and reckless in that respect, but her intentions were sincere in that she only wanted to help.

A flicker of movement caught her eye, and Fox turned her head sharply to the undergrowth on her left. "Who's there?"

Silence.

She shrugged to herself, concluding that she was still a little jumpy. Taking another drag, she was caught off guard when the burning tip of her cigarette abruptly went out – and the flame danced away across the night air. Fox's eyes widened as the small flame flickered brightly, like a miniature sun right before her eyes. Then it dissolved into the air, leaving the cigarette smouldering uselessly.

A grin crept across Fox's face, as she discarded the wasted cigarette onto the ground. Looking around herself again, she called into the night, "Where are you?"

Once again nobody replied, but Fox didn't give up, walking slowly forward. "C'mon, I know you're here." Still nothing.

On impulse, she burst into hyper-speed, becoming a mere streak of blurred light against time. She did a lap of the oval, looking intently among the hidden bushes and shrubbery. Everything appeared frozen in time to her as she moved beyond the realm of normal muscular movement. The bolt of light circled the grounds of the school, when it finally found what it was looking for.

She burst through some bushes and pounced on the figure hiding within, knocking him to the ground. They struggled for a moment until Fox pinned him to the ground. "Gotcha, Pyro," she hissed, grinning at him. She kept her hands firmly placed on his shoulders, pressing him into the ground.

Pyro's smooth brown eyes looked up at her, followed by a self-assured grin of his own. "Fox, what's goin' on?"

She raised an eyebrow, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "Lying in the grass."

She laughed softly, giving him a playful blow to the shoulder.

"Well, I was trying to figure out a way to get into the school, but I saw you come out."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Fox detected a playful spark within his eyes as he answered. "To see you."

Suddenly he tossed her off balance, knocking her onto her side. Fox gasped as Pyro rolled on top of her, using his weight to pin _her_ to the ground. He leaned forward slightly so that his face almost touched hers. "I wanna be on top," Pyro said, in a tone so shadowy and dangerous that Fox was briefly silenced. Then an irresistible grin spread across her face as she realised he was joking.

Her eyes stared in Pyro's, then they travelled down to his lips longingly. He quickly spoke. "Listen, Fox, I have a proposition for ya."

A look of curiosity flickered across Fox's face. "Yeah?"

Pyro had his hands on Fox's wrists, and rubbed them as he continued. "You and me – we're two of a kind."

The girl frowned, not understanding where he was going with this.

"I know your type," he persisted. "I can see it in your eyes. I saw it in the alley, when you broke into the lab and when you attacked me. You're a wild child. You do things just for the thrill of it, plain and simple. You live off the adrenaline rush. It's like a drug - you'd do anything just to feel that rush. The things you do – stupid, risky things – you do them purely for your own amusement."

Fox listened intently, dark lips curving into an amused smile. Pyro was absolutely right of course. He leaned closer, his head alongside hers, his mouth against her ear. "You're the dangerous type."

As he leaned back to look into her eyes, he saw the fire in them. She grinned, lifting her head off the ground to bring her face closer to his. "Am I YOUR type?" she asked.

Pyro promptly kissed her in reply. A moment later and they were making out eagerly, giving in to the flow of desire running between them. As Pyro moved his lips from Fox's mouth to her neck she sighed, then suddenly asked, "Hang on, what proposition?"

Pyro gave a sheepish grin, pulling his head back to look into her face. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Look, basically I came here to offer you a place in the Brotherhood."

Silence ensued, he watched Fox's face carefully as she absorbed this, but was unable to read her expression. "What? Join the Brotherhood?" she asked, half doubtful, half intrigued.

"You're a powerful mutant," he explained, "You proved that today. Even without the whole X-Men squad hanging around, you could hold your own. And you're what, seventeen? Chances are, you haven't even reached your full potential yet. You're smart. You're fast. You're bad. We could use you on the team. _I _could use you on the team," he added, the meaning beyond the words clear.

Fox remained quiet, and now looked uneasy. "Uh, I don't know..."

"Come on, Fox," he insisted, "Think about it, you and me, action, adventure..." he trailed off, leaning forward ever so slightly to allow their foreheads to touch. "Something on the side?"

She grinned, then quickly threw Pyro off of her, rolling over until she was once again on top. "That's tempting," she murmured. She wasn't lying, the prospect of packing her bags and heading off into an action packed world with Pyro by her side was very, very tempting. "But..."

"But what?"

Fox frowned slightly, trying to think of a way to put it into words. "Well, first I don't _really_ believe in what The Brotherhood stands for-"

"Aw come _on_!" Pyro let a laugh out with each word, and gave her a playful shove. "I know you Foxy, you don't care about that shit! All you want out of life is a kick or two, am I right?"

"Hey!"

"But it's true – you live for the thrill, like me. So what do you care which side you're on, as long as you're having a good time?"

Fox tried to argue but she didn't have a retort in mind. Pyro had a point, but he made her seem so shallow while making it. He was right when he said she was only out for a good time – hell yeah – but since meeting the X-Men Fox had unconsciously grown very attached to them despite her shortcomings. Fox had only been a part of the X-Men for about three hours, but now she realised that she harboured an intense loyalty towards them, and their cause. Pyro on the other hand was already happily settled into the Brotherhood, or so it would seem. They were on opposite sides of the fight.

This _Romeo and Juliet_-style complication was only growing worse.

Fox rolled off of Pyro and onto her back, lying next to him. She stared up at the stars, saying, "I don't think I can do it. They trust me, Pyro. They're my friends. Kinda."

Pyro glanced at her but she didn't meet his gaze. The corners of his lips drooped a little in disappointment, then he fully turned his head towards hers. "Listen, Fox I'll give you a week to think it over. I really want you to think about it."

Fox finally meet his stare without a word, her dark hair falling across her face. Pyro reached across to stroke the lock of hair, when Fox leaned closer. Raising her eyebrows meaningfully, she spoke. "There's more to me than you think there is. Don't pretend that you completely know who I am."

He didn't expect that change of tone, but nonetheless Pyro had a cool response waiting. "I know enough. You're self-satisfied. You're crazy. You're gorgeous."

Limbs entwined again, lips crushed together, and the two gave in to the flames of desire once more, not caring that they were enemies, only caring about each other.

* * *

It was long after Pyro had disappeared into the night when Fox finally made her way back to the mansion. An elated smile stretched over her face, and her mind was lost in thoughts of the Brotherhood flamethrower. Which is why she jumped out of her skin when Logan stepped out of the side door of the mansion, arms folded.

"Whoa!" she gasped, the only thing she could think to say in response. Fox couldn't recall Logan's name, in her head she'd always just referred to him as The Hairy Guy.

Before she could say anything more, Logan gruffly cut her off. "Look kid, I don't know how long this has been going on but it _stops now_."

Fox raised an eyebrow quizzically, and for a moment she thought he was talking about her smoking habit. She was about to protest angrily until she remembered that he was constantly smoking cigars in the school hallways. Obviously, he was referring to something else.

"What are you talking about?"

Logan took a step towards her, as if to emphasise their considerable differences in height. Fox was practically breaking her neck just to look in his eyes. "I'm talking about you, and a certain _pyromaniac_ from the wrong side of the tracks."

Fox froze with the realisation her secret was out, and couldn't think of a reply, let alone an explanation or excuse. She settled with letting her mouth hang open, then slowly casting her eyes downwards. _Aw, shit._

Logan maintained his dominant body language, and continued his questioning. "Well? What's the story?" She said nothing, so he probed further. "Is that why you went to the research centre alone, to see _him?_"

"No!" Fox shouted. She placed her gaze back firmly on the ground. "It's nothing," she murmured, knowing that she was lying through her teeth.

"That's bullshit, and we both know it," Logan snapped, then changing his tone as that familiar scowl crept over Fox's face. "Look, this is dangerous shit you're getting into. That Pyro kid can't be trusted, you understand? He made it clear he didn't want to be a part of us a long time ago, when he joined _our enemy_. Christ kid, _he's playing you!_ He's using you to get to the X-Men!"

"That's _not_ true!" she argued, jabbing a pointed finger at Logan. "He... I-"

"What?" Logan insisted.

"We... we understand each other. I like him. He's not what you make him out to be-"

"There, you see that? He's got you wrapped around his little finger. I would've thought you of all girls would be the last one to fall for a couple of 'I love you's!"

For ages Wolverine ranted at Fox, and it hurt her to realise that he didn't trust her nor believe her in the slightest. True, that was to be expected, given her behaviour that day, but Fox thought Logan of all the X-Men would understand her, being an outsider like herself. Argument after argument followed, the _he's-using-you'_s always countered with the _you-don't-understand-a-damn-thing_'s. Finally Fox gave up, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Al_right_, I've had enough of this!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to bed. _Later_."

"You do that," Logan replied, and his angry tone swiftly changed to one of subtle guidance. "Just remember, being a probationary X-Man has responsibility. Think about where your priorities lie. Maybe you don't understand, but Pyro is a threat to us. Which means if you keep it up with him, _you_ could be a threat to us. If Pyro gets info outta you, the Brotherhood will have an advantage. You play with fire, and you'll get us_ all_ burnt."

Fox halted mid-step, stunned by Logan's acute insight. She slowly looked over her shoulder at him, dark hair swinging around wildly, and her face registering... guilt? Regret? Fear? Whatever it was Fox quickly looked away from Logan and hurried inside, with Logan satisfied that he had gotten to the stubborn teenager.

Curling up again in her bed, Fox stared up at the ceiling, reluctantly letting Logan's words replay over and over again in her mind. She had a choice to make now. Follow the wild path offered by Pyro and the Brother hood, with the promise of unlimited adventure, passion and the ultimate in good times? Or stay with the X-Men, who'd done their fair share of scolding her, but stood for what Fox knew was just and right? Her consciousness floated into dreams as the moon held its throne high in the night sky.

* * *

Stomping down the corridor, his determined footsteps echoing off the metal walls and floors, the teenage fire manipulator stormed across a narrow metal bridge. He turned sharply to his left, and veered straight into the metal laboratory door he'd been heading for. John jerked the handle roughly – locked, unsurprisingly – then decided to bang his fists furiously on the metal door.

"Hey!" John shouted, "Cecilia! Doctor, whatever! I know you're in there, open the door before I burn it down!"

He heard a hurried scuffling inside, then after a series of clicks the sealed door slid to the side, with Dr Reyes standing on the other side. A white mask hung loosely around her neck, her black hair pulled back tightly as usual. She looked at Pyro nervously, but tried to maintain her composure as she asked, "What the hell do you want?"

John kept his hand planted firmly on the door, so the doctor couldn't suddenly slam it shut. "I want in."

"Beg your pardon?"

His face darkened with determination. "I said I wanna see what you're doing in there!" he barked, his voice growing louder with each word. "Open the freaking door!"

Despite herself, Cecilia Reyes obediently stood to the side, slightly frightened of Pyro's volatile temper. John shoved his way inside, allowing his eyes to feast on what lay beyond the metal lab door.

Three metal lab benches lay adjacent to the far wall, completely covered with various pieces of science equipment. Dr Reyes must have been in the middle of testing something, because a Bunsen burner was still alight and Pyro could see an assortment of chemicals exposed in glass jars and test tubes. A desk sat slightly to the left, which had files and roughly scribbled notes sprawled messily across. Other than the work surfaces, the lab was relatively clean, and once Pyro had finished taking in his surroundings, he turned to the doctor.

"I wanna know everything," he said bluntly. "What the hell do you _do_ here all the time?"

Dr Reyes stepped past him, approached the bench she had been working on and switched the Bunsen burner's gas connection off, for fear that Pyro might snatch the flame away. "Magneto hasn't authorised you to this area, nor that kind of information."

"Cut the crap, _Cecilia_," John shot back, "If I'm risking my ass for anything, I wanna freaking well know what it is." John closed the gap between them, leaning casually on one elbow which he propped up on Dr Reyes's workbench. "So what is it? Some kind of acid that burns your insides up? A deadly poison? I knew you were a sadist underneath that white coat."

Dr Reyes sighed, trying to ignore her intruder, and leaned over to adjust a microscope. "This may be beyond you, John, which is why Magneto didn't want details disclosed." Seeing John beginning to bristle again, she quickly changed her mind. "But if you _must_ know..."

The doctor carefully selected a test tube, one that was corked tightly and had a clear-blue liquid inside. Showing it to the teenager, but not letting him touch it, she began. "This is a liquidated virus. I came across it some time ago, back when I was working for the FBI. I've developed it further into what I believe is a new form of the bacteria. It's called _Bacillus fatalicis_ – Fatalite." She waited for John to add something, but he was surprisingly quiet for his brazen self. "Ok, think Anthrax. This is just as lethal: it has the same properties, same spore structures, everything, except for two major differences. One is that this particular virus is highly infectious from person to person – Anthrax is not. Secondly, Fatalite only affects organisms with non-mutated DNA structures."

John's eyes snapped up from the test tube to the doctor in an instant focus. "Wait... what-"

"It only affects _humans_; mutants are virtually immune to it."

John stared at the doctor, stunned. "_What?_ That's impossible. How did you do that?"

"I manipulated the spores."

"Is there a counter-virus?"

"Technically no. I have found that in liquid form it's destroyed by flame, though."

"You _invented_ this? And you're gonna _release_ it into the public?"

The doctor looked back at him calmly, eyebrows raised. "_We_ are going to release it, all of us. Don't look so shocked. You know this is exactly the kind of thing Magneto wants. An epidemic like this would wipe out the entire human race, and leave us mutants untouched."

John's mind was in turmoil, he looked around at the chemicals that littered the bench tops, unable to believe that something so lethal was harboured here. "But... You're a doctor, aren't you supposed to have morals and stuff?"

"_Morals?_" she repeated indignantly, "_I_ have no morals? Listen to me _Pyro_, I am twenty eight and you know what I've learned from this fucked up world? _Nobody goes by morals_. You have your days, when everything seems great and life is good, then suddenly you're being mobbed, harassed and attacked, because _you happened to be born different_! And me, I've experienced the worst of it three ways – I'm black, I'm a woman, and I'm a mutant. I'm nothing to the human race, nothing!" Angry tears started to stream unnoticed down Cecilia's cheeks.

John was growing apprehensive, visibly uncomfortable at Dr Reyes's sudden emotional eruption. He reached out to touch her but she flinched away, only just beginning to warm to her argument. "Ok, ok, doctor-"

"I was born the way I am, and that gives people the right to abuse me? To attack me for no reason in the streets? To refuse me jobs, friends, dates? Does that give people the right to_ destroy my family?_ _To kill my father?_ Does it, Pyro? Huh? The human race is _fucked,_ you better believe it! Are they a race that deserves _not_ to die a slow painful death, one by one? _No_. I want them _all_ to suffer, the way us mutants have for centuries, _the way they made my father suffer!_" she screeched, clenching her fists by the sides of her head so tightly her knuckles were turning a deathly white.

Pyro was backing away now, his hand reaching into the comfort of his pocket and retrieving the steel lighter. Holding it defensively, and flicking it on and off alternately, he tried to speak again. "Look, just chill, alright? Calm down..." She said nothing, turning away angrily to the bench and snatching a random test tube from its rack. Pyro knew there was something more to Dr Reyes, but he didn't know her problems were this deep, or that her motives were that sinister. "Ok, we've all had problems with humans; believe me, I have. And yeah, sometimes you feel the hatred burning so intensely inside you, you just wanna reach out and _kill _a person, a _normal_ person. But Jesus, do you really want to go down in history as the chick who wiped 'em _all_ out?"

"I'll be making the world a better place for us. For mutants."

"You don't believe that."

Cecilia Reyes looked Pyro squarely in the eye. "Magneto does."

And that made absolute, perfect sense. _Of course he does_, Pyro thought. It was all he believed in, mutants dominating and ruling over the human race. Granted, Magneto sincerely cared about the welfare of mutants, but at the same time he was intent on the complete annihilation of humans. For a while Pyro believed it too, that mutants and humans could never co-exist, that it was always either one or the other... For a while, the fire inside him burned with hatred and rage at what the human race had done to his kind and it seemed that nothing would ever extinguish the flames of loathing... But nonetheless the idea of him being a part of the team that caused humans to practically become _extinct_... that unsettled him greatly.

Another thought struck John, and he turned to Dr Reyes with a little panic. "How can you be sure it doesn't affect mutants? What is it kills _us all?_"

"I know it won't."

"But _how?_" he demanded.

Cecilia Reyes twisted around suddenly, her eyes spitting fire at Pyro. "This is how!" she snarled, and ripped the sleeve of her coat upwards to reveal the mutilated flesh underneath. Pyro's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he saw the rows of scars and gashes that disfigured the skin of her arm. Then he realised that she'd inflicted these on herself, with a knife, and she'd applied the bacteria to the wounds in order infect her own bloodstream. Some gashes were quite old, some were thin as cat scratches, some had been bleeding quite recently and stained the inside of her jacket a bright red, and others were a strange, deep purple colour. Doctor Reyes was using herself as a human guinea pig for her virus.

"_Jesus Christ!_" he yelled, recoiling in horror. "You tested the disease _on yourself?"_

The sinister glimmer in the doctor's eyes gave Pyro the answer. "You gotta do what you gotta do. Rats just don't cut it when it comes to mutated genetics and Fatalite."

Eyes glued to the doctor's maimed arm, Pyro backed away further. "You're crazy!" he spat. "You're fucking crazy! I can't believe you'd do that. You're the one with problems, not the human race! Fuck me!" His mind was churning. This doctor was completely insane, she had to be! Inventing a plague-like disease, using herself as a guinea pig... Pyro looked around frantically, as if suddenly afraid the virus was airborne and about to devour him.

Doctor Reyes stepped forward, brandishing her arm as if it were a weapon. She was obviously enjoying intimidating the haughty teenager. "Not so tough now, are ya? You little punk, I-"

John ignited his lighter with the flick of his thumb and formed a fireball with the flames. Guiding it slowly towards the doctor, he said venomously, "Don't touch me."

The doctor's confidence wavered a little when confronted with the sight of the flames and she drew back, clearly afraid of fire. Pyro was regaining control of the situation, and he split the fireball into multiple tongues of flame, which danced around him like nuclear fireflies. "I could destroy your precious virus _right now,_ doctor."

"Oh, but how ironic, because you wouldn't dare," she replied smoothly. "After all, Magneto would – how should I put it? – be _terribly displeased_. Are you a part of the bad-ass Brotherhood or not? They're all about domination, killing humans, whatever – but you don't even have the balls for that!"

Something inside Pyro snapped, and in his fury he launched all of the airborne fireballs directly at the doctor. She yelped and instinctively covered her head with her hands, but she needn't have bothered. Her energy shield automatically triggered on impact, and each fireball sizzled uselessly and disappeared once hitting the doctor's self-generated force field.

Dr Reyes quivered slightly, but knew she was safe. Her energy shield was now fully active, and nothing, not even fire, could harm her. Slowly lowering her hands from her head, she peered at Pyro and said, "Look John, all I'm saying, is that the future of mutant kind, lies in the destruction of humankind. If you can't accept that, then what exactly are you doing with the Brotherhood in the first place? After all, that's precisely what they're fighting for."

John stared, feeling sweat evolve from the hand that was gripping his lighter. It was only then that he understood that two equally opposite and significant choices lay before him – either stay with the only organisation that he had ever really belonged to, or follow his conscience and stand up for what he believed in. John could easily play the hero and destroy the virus now, preventing what would surely be a global plague-like crisis. Couldn't he?

But Pyro looked deeper in Dr Reyes eyes, and suddenly he recognised the pain, misery and burning hatred at the human race that stared back at him. That same anger and hatred at the world lay inside _him_, buried, undealt with. The flames burned day and night, yearning for... what? Vengeance?

John made his choice.


	9. The clock starts

Refined and poised, Professor Charles Xavier wheeled his black wheelchair down the main passageway of the underground levels of the mansion, alone. With the round steel doors of Cerebro in sight, a clear plan formed in the elder man's mind. After a moment the Professor glided to a stop, and his acute extrasensory mind sensed the presence of someone else within the corridors.

Pushing out with his telepathic energy, the Professor gave a soft smile as he recognised the thought patterns of the intruder. He manoeuvred the wheelchair closer to Cerebro, but stopped short of the activation sequence, waiting for the other person to come forward. When Professor X sensed they wouldn't, he called out.

"I think you know better than to hide from a psychic."

Sheepish, Dakota finally emerged from the left subdivision of the corridor, having just been sneaking around inside the mansion's garage once again. The Professor angled his head slightly to peer over his shoulder at the teenager. He smiled, amused at the sight of the normally overconfident Fox now embarrassed and nervously entwining her fingers together. "Sorry, Professor. I didn't touch anything, I just-"

"You like the cars. You slip down here often when Scott's guard is down," the Professor remarked, correctly.

"Yeah, I guess I do." The girl nodded, a grin spreading across her face. "Where are you going?"

Instead of replying the Professor looked ahead at the circular doors of Cerebro, moving slightly forward to trigger the activation sequence. A white laser materialised from the door's security computer, and a retinal scan followed as Fox watched in fascination.

"_Welcome Professor,_" the robotic voice droned, and the steel rounded doors slid open.

On cue the Professor rolled forward, and Fox began to follow eagerly when he held up a hand to stop her. "If you'll excuse me, Miss Fitzgerald?" he asked, pointedly but politely. "This won't take long."

Dakota frowned but didn't disobey the Professor, allowing him to enter Cerebro alone as the doors slammed shut behind him. She waited impatiently for him outside, dying to know what was going on inside the forbidden room.

Inside, Professor X continued forward along the narrow pathway suspended over the centre of Cerebro. He smiled again as he sensed Fox's unmistakable curiosity seeping through the closed entrance, but he knew she wouldn't be ready to handle what the depths of Cerebro could bring to you. Placing the helmet-like headpiece over his head and closing his eyes, the Professor paused, then began driving his telepathy outwards, sensing his psychic energy being amplified by the device.

It was an amazing thing for him to experience really. Every time he utilized Cerebro the Professor was enthralled by what the device could bring to him via his mind, regardless of how often he used it. It was incredible to feel the minds and psyches of others trickle into his own, giving the Professor's consciousness an enhanced flight-like ability, and the power to track down and communicate with any conscious being on the planet...

That is, except for Magneto. The controller of magnetic fields knew how to shield the Professor's telepathy well, and obviously Magneto's whole lair was adorned with this armour. Consequently, it was very rare when the Professor could detect the minds of _any_ of the Brotherhood members, Pyro included. But Professor X had nothing to lose, and he reached out further with his immensely powerful psyche, trying urgently to detect first Magneto, then Mystique, and then St. John Allerdyce...

The Professor recognised it immediately. The thought patterns of Dr Cecilia Reyes seemed to leap out at him from among the sea of psychic energies. The Professor trained his energy on locating the doctor. She was inland... the Professor tried to concentrate further to establish her exact location but was distracted by a sudden wave of emotion emitted from the doctor. Caught off guard, Professor X turned his energy towards determining what was happening to Cecilia...

_She was at a graveyard, kneeling with a bunch of cheerful yellow daffodils at a lone tombstone. Her father's. The sun was shining high in the sky, Professor X could practically feel it warming his own skin. Sobbing softly while placing the bouquet gently on the ground, the doctor gave off wave after wave of mixed, powerful emotions. _

_Anguish over her father's brutal death. _

_Pain and misery - her vast grief had never really faded over time. _

_Helplessness and sorrow. _

_And finally, unbelievable fury, a dark hatred for the people who did this to her, destroyed her family, taken her father's life. _

_Oh, how she hated the 'normal' ones. The young doctor gritted her teeth as the hatred overcame all other emotions, a loathing so intense, so powerful that she was determined to make the world suffer the way she did, and worse. _

"_Tomorrow's the day, daddy," she declared softly, bitter tears clouding her vision. "I swear, tomorrow I'm going to make them ALL pay." _

Professor Charles Xavier's eyes snapped open.

* * *

She knew something was up as soon as the seal of the circular doors was released and the Professor emerged, looking unnervingly troubled for his usually placid self.

"What's wrong?" Fox demanded, approaching his wheelchair carefully. "Are you ok?"

The Professor's striking blue eyes met Fox's, and in them she saw a mixture of anxiety, pity and alarm. "Fox," he began gently and calmly, "I need you to do something for me."

She knelt beside his chair, nodding, a little worried at the Professor's over-calm tone.

"I want you to search the school, and find every member of the X-Men you can. Instruct them to assemble in my office immediately – there's a matter of emergency that needs to be attended to _at once_."

Sensing the panic beginning to register in Fox's mind, the Professor sent her a wave of reassuring telepathic energy, trying to calm the teenager down. "You must understand, there is no reason to panic now, Dakota. I need you to stay calm, and I need the X-Men assembled now, as to be ready by the time I arrive. At the moment I must further investigate this matter through Cerebro. Will you do this for me?" He was speaking exaggeratedly slow, as if his instructions were so critical that one small mistake would result in devastation.

Fox silently nodded again, and asked, "What do I tell them?"

"To gather in my office, and that I have established the time that Fatalite will be released into the population. Hurry – we do not have long."

The girl was already gone.

* * *

From a graceful and haunting blue-skinned beauty to a scrawny little red-haired girl with pigtails, Mystique timed the transformation with expert precision and style, slipping past the defences of Xavier's School for the Gifted. Having morphed into what looked like just another student of the school, she now sauntered through the grounds, without a suspicious eye so much as glanced in her direction. The master of morphing entered the school effortlessly.

Magneto didn't know about Mystique's latest reconnaissance mission. In fact, this was something that had occurred to the meta-morph spontaneously and _nobody_ knew about it. But, driven by the adrenaline from anticipating the virus's release tomorrow, Mystique had suddenly decided to infiltrate Xavier's school and disadvantage the X-Men before tomorrow as much as possible.

She silently wandered past a stream of students, her newly-acquired form allowing her to blend in perfectly. But Mystique was headed to the forbidden underground levels of the mansion, hoping to gain access to the X-Men's computer system, and to sabotage Cerebro.

The meta-morph was particularly interested in bringing down Fox. Enraged by her defeat at the hands of the overconfident teenager, Mystique guessed that Fox was the weak link in the mighty chain of the X-Men. Unfortunately, being such a new member, nobody outside the X-Men knew anything about Fox, what she was capable of, or what her weaknesses were. So all Mystique had to do was dig up some dirt, and she was pretty confident of that.

The 'little girl' innocently stepped alone into the elevator, however once inside, she hit the _U_ button. The elevator began its descent, and once it settled on the lowest floor Mystique strolled out into the blue-lit halls, heading purposefully towards Cerebro.

Morphing back into her blue self, she stopped suddenly when her eyes fell upon the newly-built meeting, computer and research rooms of the lower levels. Confident that she was alone within the level, Mystique entered one of the rooms, quickly pouncing on the X-Men's computer system.

Being a technology and communications expert, as well as a specialist in infiltration, Mystique quickly hacked past the computer's security system and began accessing student files. She searched the files of the newest members of the school until she found what she was looking for. Fox.

The script emerged onto the screen right before Mystique's golden eyes.

_Xavier Files, Profile: Student 32871 W _

_**Name: **__Dakota Fitzgerald _

_**Also known as:**__ 'Fox' _

_**Gender:**__ Female _

_**Age: **__Seventeen _

_**Nationality:**__ American, possibly of Spanish (or similar) descent. _

Mystique scrolled down impatiently. "Appearance... Background... Academic Progress..." she muttered to herself. "Here we go: Abilities, Weaknesses and Personal Information."

_**Abilities:**_ _Fox has an astonishing and unchartered amount of energy (this particular form of mutant energy has yet to be identified and further studied) which she stores and controls at will. This mutation allows her to rapidly increase her brain wave patterns, giving her incalculable speed of muscle movements and mental functions. This state is scientifically referred to as 'hyper-speed'. Simple and uncomplicated tasks such as sprinting – which Fox particularly favours - she can accomplish in sometimes less than a second. Fox can also use this energy to apply to other tasks as well, she has an exceptional physical state of fitness, and an acute intellect. Fox is incredibly fast at almost everything she does, including combat, any repetitive task and even learning. _

"Uh huh – she's fast. We've established that."

_**Weaknesses: **__After especially prolonged use of her power, Fox sometimes finds herself in a sudden state of extreme fatigue. In severe cases, in which she excessively overuses her energy, she collapses in a brief muscular paralysis in order for her body to recover from exhaustion, almost like an exhaustion-triggered cataplexy. This condition leaves Fox powerless in regaining control of her body until it has recovered, and for a brief time she is unable to move whatsoever. Therefore in this state Fox is rendered temporarily helpless. _

_In addition, Fox is impulsive, reckless, and frequently disobedient. Like most adolescent mutants, she can fall into the trap of believing her power to render her invincible, which gives her excessive overconfidence. She can also be very short-tempered and impatient, which could be her downfall. _

"Yeah, just like Pyro. Teenagers are all the same." Mystique muttered, although she found Fox's habit of collapsing interesting.

_**Personal Information:**__ Full details of Dakota's previous life are yet to be established. From initial research it has been confirmed that she first discovered her mutations at age twelve, however managed to keep them a secret until she was fifteen. The cause of her sudden 'breaking out' was the emotional effect of her mother's sudden disappearance. Mrs Rebecca Fitzgerald was discovered to be a mutant by Dakota's father, and, without Dakota knowing, he managed to gain sole custody of his daughter and issued a restraining order against Rebecca. Further events are, at this stage, unclear, although it appears that there was some sort of violence between the parents which may or may not be linked to Mrs Fitzgerald's disappearance. This occasion triggered Dakota's abilities to suddenly magnify, thus she was quickly discovered to be a mutant like her mother by students of her private school during a school sports event. Terrified and in typical adolescent fashion, she ran away. _

A sinister smile spread across Mystique's exotic face as the scanned photo of Fox's family scrolled onto the screen. _Interesting,_ Mystique thought, eyes planted on the face of Dakota's mother. _Very interesting._ A flick of a mouse, and the page was printed.

* * *

Entering her hyper-speed state, Fox sprinted throughout the levels of the mansion, desperately trying to locate another member of the X-Men. Dr Jean Grey's office lay straight ahead. Fox used her speed to burst inside, almost shattering the door.

Jean Grey looked up from her desk in astonishment at Fox who appeared to have materialised out of nowhere and was now standing directly in front of her. "Dakota! What-"

"_The-Professor-wants-all-the-X-Men-in-his-office-straight-away!_" the words tumbled rapidly from Fox's mouth, without the girl so much as pausing.

Before Jean Grey could indicate that she couldn't understand what Fox was saying, the girl disappeared. Luckily the telepath figured it out, and quickly left her desk in search of Scott.

Ororo Munroe and Kurt Wagner were strolling the school grounds outside, enjoying the late afternoon sun. A lighting flash ambushed them suddenly, and from the bolt of light Fox appeared, giving the two teachers a hell of a scare.

"Dakota!" Miss Munroe gasped.

"What is the matter?" Kurt asked, still stunned by her abrupt arrival.

Fox waved her arms around like a lunatic, panting and puffing. "_The-Professor-wants-all-the-X-Men-in-his-office-straight-away! Emergency!_"

She vanished before the two could ask what the reason was, but Ororo and Kurt followed Fox's instructions anyway and headed to the Professor's office.

Fox darted around the school, rounding up Wolverine and Scott along the way. She found Bobby and Rogue in the dining area, laughing and snacking on ice-cream.

"Marie! Bobby!" Fox called, now tiring from her attempts to gather the X-Men during hyper-speed. She slowed to a stop, puffing in front of their table.

"Fox," Bobby nodded in his usual friendly tone.

"What's up Fox?" Rogue asked, Southern accent heavily coating her words, a single eyebrow raised questioningly.

"The Professor wants all the X-men in his office now. There's an emergency."

Rogue and Bobby exchanged glances, then simultaneously pushed back their chairs and got to their feet. Since they were the last members to be collected, Fox stayed in her normal state, and walked alongside the two as they headed for the Professor's office.

"What's this about?" Rogue asked, glancing sideways at Fox.

"The virus," she answered bluntly. "The Professor knows when it's gonna be released."

"Virus?" Rogue repeated, and it was then that Fox realised that Rogue and Bobby hadn't been at the X-Men meeting regarding Fatalite.

"Ok, there's this virus," Fox began, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "It's called Fatalite. The Brotherhood – wait, no – this mutant chick called Dr Reyes invented it. Anyway, I think it's like Anthrax, only it doesn't affect mutants. At all. The Brotherhood are gonna use it to attack the human race. Wipe them all out, even."

Bobby looked at Fox with shock, Rogue raised her eyebrows sharply. "Oh my God," was all she said. "And when are they gonna do this?"

"I don't know," Fox admitted. "All the Professor said was that we don't have a lot of time. So c'mon!"

* * *

Mystique sauntered out of the research room and once again headed for Cerebro. Stopping in front of the doors, she knelt to what she guessed was the height of Xavier's wheelchair. As she had done before, Mystique morphed only the shape of her eyes, and replicated Professor X's retina pattern perfectly. Only something was wrong this time - the scanning sequence didn't activate.

Frowning, Mystique stepped back to study the circular doors of Cerebro, when she realised the problem. It was already active. _The Professor was already inside. _

The only thing she could think to do was turn around and run.

Mystique was in no way frightened – she had to be one of the most fearless mutants on the planet. Yet one thing did intimidate her somewhat, and that was the world's most powerful telepath, Professor Xavier. She knew he could detect her in an instant, and she knew he was capable of taking complete control of her mind. Meta-morph or not, there was no defence against an attack of the telepathic kind.

Making it safely to the elevator, Mystique turned around and hit the panel. Convinced she was safe for the meantime, she transformed into her 'little girl' form, partly satisfied at the infiltration's outcome. She hadn't succeeded in fully impeding the X-Men, but she had all the information she needed on Fox.

* * *

As soon as the three teenagers swung the door open to the Professor's office, the tension hit them like a sledgehammer. Scott and Jean were seated against the far wall, talking in hushed tones. Wolverine was leaning against the wall next to the doorframe, constantly cracking his knuckles as if preparing for battle. Storm was seated next to the Professor's desk, occasionally joining in Scott and Jean's conversation, but mostly keeping to herself. Kurt declined seating of any kind and chose to perch on the windowsill, giving the teenagers a friendly wave as they walked in despite the atmosphere.

Bobby, Rogue and Fox decided to sit on the bench that lined the wall opposite Wolverine, and conversed in low whispers.

"Where's the Professor?" Rogue whispered to Fox.

"In Cerebro," she answered, "He'll be here soon."

"Are you sure you're supposed to be here too?" Bobby asked.

Fox frowned slightly, turned her head towards him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're not _really_ a proper member of the X-Men."

She scowled at him, and turned her fierce stare forwards, trying to ignore what he said. Bobby was probably right, but Fox was already too far involved in this Fatalite case to be denied a part of it now.

Jean Grey looked up expectantly, and a moment later the door opened, revealing the Professor himself. The room fell silent as he wheeled around to his desk, and passed Scott a manila folder.

"X-Men, the reason for this sudden meeting is that we have simply run out of time. The virus known as Fatalite is due for release – tomorrow. I managed to locate the mind of Dr Cecilia Reyes, and though I only gained limited information, I have gathered enough facts for us to work with. First and foremost, the virus has been programmed on a time release. Unfortunately, we only have about 24 hours."

A whisper of shock and trepidation circulated the office briefly, giving Scott time to scan the contents of the folder. He stepped forward, apparently taking charge of the meeting.

"The Brotherhood's target city is none other than Washington DC. Unfortunately, there's also a hostage situation at hand. A capsule – presumable constructed by Magneto – houses the virus, and this capsule has been stationed in the Senate building. The Brotherhood attacked this afternoon, and every news channel is going crazy with reports. They've barricading the building and surroundings using various metal frames of nearby structures; with these, Magneto appears to have constructed a thick shield of iron. Office workers and even senators remained trapped inside, thus preventing any security from breaching the borders. The Brotherhood unsurprisingly has refused negotiation, and any attack will risk those inside. There are human lives immediately at risk, X-Men, as well as the virus's inevitable release."

"What about aerial attacks?" Wolverine asked. "Can't the Feds try that approach?"

"Magneto could easily deflect or destroy any aircraft that approached," Cyclops replied, and Logan scowled in response. "In fact, he's probably already done it. I've seen the footage on the news already, there are defence forces stationed all around the metal barricade, but nothing can be done until the Brotherhood make a move. This is going to be a tough one X-Men, with the amounts of immediate publicity as well as the hostage situation."

Storm murmured in agreement, considerably uncomfortable at the thought of innocent workers being killed by Brotherhood members.

"Could the army not mistake us for being Brotherhood mutants as well?" Kurt asked. "We may be attacked by humans before we can even get inside."

"You're right, Nightcrawler," Scott said, "We will have to decide the best approach now. Perhaps we should even consider negotiating with National Security."

Logan growled softly at this, not being one in favour of arbitration. None of the three teenagers were too keen on this idea either – Fox was never one to trust human authority of any kind, and both Rogue and Bobby had seen what the _police_ were like when faced with mutants, let alone National Security. Rogue still shivered at the thought of Logan being shot in the head right in front of her.

Dr Jean Grey suddenly stood to her feet, gesturing slightly towards Fox. "I've analysed the contents of the disk Dakota kindly retrieved for us from Dr Reyes. There's a lot of irrelevant biochemical material, and Dr Reyes has obviously kept a limited amount of Fatalite development on disk. I have gathered however that the doctor has been working with it only in liquidated form. It's pretty safe to conclude that the virus has been compacted in this form, and will be reduced to airborne spores _only_ when the time for release occurs. That's what the purpose of the time release is. This will work to our advantage – Fatalite in liquidated form can be destroyed quite easily."

"Alright," Cyclops agreed. "So our objective is firstly to infiltrate the barricade around the Senate with _no cost_ to human life, and then to destroy the virus before it's transformed from liquid to air spores."

"And any ideas as to how we might do that?" Logan asked, a hint of challenge in his voice. Fox angled her head slightly to study Wolverine, wondering what his problem was. He was always like this around Scott, and at first Fox had attributed it to simple dislike, and a hidden rivalry as to who was the 'alpha male' of the X-Men. Now, as Fox watched Logan's gaze fix on the luminous Jean Grey, she began to realise what this rivalry was really about.

"As a matter of fact, I have an idea." Everyone's eyes turned to stare at Storm, who had broken her own silence and now had the look of an inspired artist.

* * *

Never such chaos – St. John Allerdyce watched with fascination from his vantage point as the people below him scrambled in panic, screaming, crying, trying to claw their way out of their cold iron confinement. He'd never seen anything like it.

John sat perched on the plateau of the Senate rooftop, feet dangling precariously over the edge, flicking his Zippo shark on and off alternately.

The metal barricade stood monstrously tall, circling the Senate building and its grounds. Every now and again John could hear the roar of a nearby building collapsing further – Magneto had ripped the iron frames out of surrounding buildings to construct this metal blockade, and now those buildings were unstable and collapsing haphazardly.

Meanwhile the unfortunate office workers, senators and members of public who had simply found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time had been trapped within the confines of the Senate building and its grounds. They were undoubtedly terrified by the Brotherhood, and had at first swarmed from inside the building down the stairs and towards the iron walls, trying desperately to break out of their imprisonment.

Chaos, chaos, chaos. Pyro found himself grinning from ear to ear at the frenzied scene below him. Perhaps he had made the right choice after all; staying with the Brotherhood was proving to be – if anything – hugely entertaining.

Stationed around various areas of the crowd and other high-raised steel structures were the other members of the Brotherhood, alert and ready. The invasion of the Senate had been going on for about 12 hours, and it was already early morning, each Brotherhood member fully alert. 8 hours until detonation, and still the X-Men hadn't made a move.

Dr Reyes and Magneto were inside at this point. Mystique was in the small crowd somewhere, and may have shifted shape – Pyro wasn't sure. She had been the key to the entire operation, and was in charge of the remaining members of the Brotherhood. Toad, like Pyro, was positioned high above the ground on a twisted steel structure, occasionally tormenting the frightened people with his dangerous antics.

Sabretooth stalked among the hostages occasionally, a menacing reminder of who was boss. People shrank before his ferocious stare and terrifying growl. Lady Deathstrike had also been stationed among the crowd with Mystique, but for the meantime she was standing motionlessly on another metal structure, above the throng. The hostages had seen what this woman could do with her adamantinum 'fingernails', and stayed a safe distance.

Psylocke was someone John wasn't well acquainted with – the purple-haired telepath was stationed on the roof of the Senate with him, but all attempts at conversation with her were met with a shrug or an eye-roll. When she did speak Pyro noticed she had a British accent, yet her features were undeniably Asian. He also knew she was an adept telepath, as well as having telekinetic ability. Whenever John had been at the stage of falling asleep, she'd jerk him awake using her telekinesis or with a telepathic shout.

John's mind wandered as he continued playing with his lighter. If the X-Men attacked, there was a good chance Fox would be attacking with them. Which meant he and Fox would be on opposite sides of the battlefield. He would be hurting her friends, her allies, and she would be hurting his.

Pyro shook his head, trying to convince himself that this did not bother him. John was the kind of teenager who could switch off quite easily – that is, he could ignore his conscience whenever he was doing something fairly immoral. But Fox was different – John had feelings for her, and if he hadn't been able to harm her at the Allansworth research centre, then he probably wouldn't be able to harm her today.

Pyro ignited his lighter, snatching the flame and juggled it with one hand. He let his mind remember the night he had found her at the school, the conversation they'd had, the way she looked at him. He'd always attributed his feelings for Fox as lust, but there was something else about her. She was spirited, wild and carefree. Dangerous, even. Pyro could see himself with someone like that. And more importantly, Fox understood him, looked deep inside his own tortured soul, and she liked what she saw. Pyro had never come across anybody who was so much like him, yet didn't clash with his ego.

_Who's Fox?_ A sudden intrusive voice asked in his mind, and John turned his head sharply to Betsy Braddock, who was standing a few metres away, a smug, interested look on her face. She'd been reading his mind.

_Get out of my head, Psylocke! NOW! _Pyro replied with his own inner voice, blood boiling at his mind's privacy being invaded this way.

_Tell me who she is, _the unpleasant voice in his mind persisted. _She's one of the X-Men, isn't she?_

_I'll kill you! Get out of my fucking head! _Pyro formed a massive tongue of fire in his hand, eyes shooting daggers at Psylocke. He knew the telepath was too powerful to be defeated so easily, but nonetheless the strange presence left his mind.

Betsy approached him, this time her face showing something vastly different to the sinister expression he had seen before – concern. "Forget her," she said aloud to John. "Remember who we're doing this for: mutant-kind. If the X-Men wanna play hero, let them deal with the consequences of getting in our way. Your girlfriend included."

Pyro kept his stony gaze firmly planted ahead, and not even Psylocke could tell what he was thinking.

* * *

A/N: Ok, I know that Psylocke is actually one of the X-Men in the comic, but I needed more bad guys, particularly telepaths. Sorry. And for legal reasons I should probably point out that I still don't own the X-Men, Marvel or Hasbro. R&R!


	10. Attack

The X-Men were due to leave at 10am, the detonation time for the virus was around 2:00 to 2:30pm. Fox had been awake since sunrise and she, Jubilee and Rogue had been slamming punching bags in the gym all morning. 

Fox had to argue a fair bit to earn herself a place in the mission, but eventually Cyclops had agreed to let her come on the condition that she was always within the vicinity of one of the senior X-Men. For safety reasons, of course. 

_But they need me_, she realised. With her speed she could save the lives of many civilians if they were found in the crossfire between Brotherhood mutants and the X-Men. The same way she had saved those people at Tower Point. And the X-Men, being unsure of the amount of members the Brotherhood had, needed all the numbers they could get. 

Since Jubilee was more experienced than Fox, she had been granted a place in the mission as well and now joined in the exercises eagerly. Fox noticed Jubilation Lee was extremely fit and agile, but Jubilee also had the advantage being able to use her mutation as an offensive weapon. Her 'fireworks' could blind an opponent easily. She could even blow them up if she wanted to. 

Rogue was strong and could definitely hold her own in a fight, but battle was particularly risky for her. Because her real power could only come into play at very close range, she had to take on the 'ground' operatives of the Brotherhood; namely Mystique, Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike. Mutants such as Magneto, Pyro and even Toad had the advantage of being able to attack her from long distance, thus avoiding skin contact. Furthermore, with every person she touched, Rogue risked becoming psychologically unstable for days, depending on how long she came into contact with them for. 

Despite the nervous tension in the air, adrenaline was pumping through Fox's veins, and like a child on Christmas Eve, she couldn't keep still. This feeling of restless excitement was intensified once Wolverine walked into the gym and started his own exercises. 

"Hey Wolverine!" Fox called out. He turned away from the swinging punching bag to face Fox. She in turn assumed a karate pose. "I need to practise on someone bigger than me." 

Logan gave an abrupt laugh while shaking his head quickly. "I don't wanna hurt ya, kid. I don't even think you should be going today." 

"But I am going!" Fox replied gleefully, "So c'mon!" 

Logan repeated his decline, and returned to his own punching bag. "But you could work on your left hook," he added over his shoulder. "I noticed it's crooked when you punch, and it's a little weaker than your right. Build its strength up a bit." 

Fox grinned, looking down and flexing her left arm. Rogue elbowed her in the side, making sure no skin-to-skin contact was made. "Nah, it's time to put some meat on your bones, sugah. Let's go eat." 

~ 

10:00am and they were all aboard the Blackbird; Cyclops and Storm up front, Jean and Wolverine in the next row, Rogue and Iceman next, then Nightcrawler, Jubilee and Fox in the back. Everyone was strangely silent as the jet took off, each lost in their own head full of worries. The only person to speak was Cyclops to outline the plan, with Wolverine occasionally making his remarks. 

Fox shifted about uncomfortably in her leather suit, which was a lot tighter than the one she had stolen and worn to the biochemical research centre. A niggling thought entered the back of her mind. _What about Pyro?_ She jammed the thought away, refusing to think about him. Fox knew that if she was to face the flamethrower in battle she'd have to choose between her team and him. It was something she wanted to put off for as long as possible. 

Jubilee would chatter now and then, try to crack a joke, but Fox remained distant. Eventually, the jet drew closer to Washington, and everyone snapped to attention as Scott landed in an open plain outside of the city, far out of Magneto's reach. The team had to make the rest of the way on foot. 

Trudging through the grass, the X-Men remained close together with Scott and Jean leading the group, both on the lookout for any threats. But the residential land outside of Washington central remained deserted, as if the events in the city had drawn every civilian towards it. 

Then the city drew nearer. Storm kicked off the first phase of their plan, and began to manipulate the weather. Fox watched with fascination as Storm's eyes glazed over to a brilliant, snow-white. Storm outstretched her arms like a goddess, her blinding white hair being tossed wildly by the wind. The weather slowly changed from overcast, to dark, then a thick fog lifted from the ground as heavy rain began to fall. 

Storm created a sort of 'bubble' around the group, protecting them from the worst of the weather as they continued on their way. Eventually, all visibility was reduced to just half a metre, and Fox felt Jubilee grab her elbow to make sure she wasn't lost. Scott's red visor however gave him enhanced vision within the inclement weather and he led the way through the city and further towards the Senate building. 

Atop the building, Pyro sat up straighter as the weather changed abruptly. He could see the civilians down below marvelling at the phenomenal change from a sunny afternoon to a foggy, drizzly storm. Now the wisps of fog grew thicker, the tendril mists creating an eerie atmosphere. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and it was clear a huge storm was on the way. 

Wait, storm...? 

_"Everyone, stay alert,"_ Mystique's voice ordered through the earpiece Pyro and all the Brotherhood members wore for communication._ "Looks like they're making an entrance. You know what to do."_

The X-Men had reached a section of the iron blockade that wasn't guarded by U.S Security – just as Storm predicted, the change in weather had driven them towards the front of the Senate building where their vehicles were stationed. Storm enlarged the visibility cloud around the group, and Fox could now see the huge metal barricade and her fellow X-Men clearly. She braced herself, her stomach churning, the nerves now practically eating her alive. 

"Alright, Jubes," Cyclops said with a nod, motioning everyone to stand back. 

Jubilation Lee stepped forward, cracking her knuckles with a cheeky grin. "Back up, everyone. No, seriously. Back up." 

Extending an arm towards the iron shield, her face grew still with concentration. Then suddenly a multitude of huge, brightly coloured energy globes burst forward, the explosion loud, dazzling and extremely powerful. Metal shrapnel went flying as the bottom of the barricade was demolished by Jubilee's fireworks, which in this case proved to be as powerful as a bomb. 

Jean Grey used her telekinesis to protect the group from the airborne fragments, while Cyclops blasted the remainder of the shield away, giving the X-Men an opening large enough to enter through. Meanwhile, Storm had coincided the explosions with loud claps of thunder, so as not to alert National Security or other defence forces to their breach. 

Wolverine and Cyclops charged forward through the opening, followed by the rest of the team who were still banded close together. They had entered the part of the metal blockade that immediately faced the back of the Senate building, so no civilians were in sight yet. However the goal was to enter through the front of the building, so the group continued forward with still a fair distance to cover. 

Pyro sprang to his feet as he witnessed the colourful blast, and he recognised the entire X-Men team, even from this height. But in the thunder, fog and rain, he wasn't sure if any other Brotherhood members were aware of their presence. Instead of simply using the communication earpiece to alert the rest of the Brotherhood, John snapped his lighter on, initiating the first part of his own plan. 

Taking a flame into his hand, Pyro is enlarged above his head until it was the size of a car. With a wicked grin, he sculpted the dancing flames into the shape of a colossal bird – a firebird. This demon-like monster made from Pyro's fire served two purposes – to attack the X-Men and to alert the rest of the Brotherhood. Pyro started laughing as he drove the bird in vulture-like circles, before it began a massive dive. 

Fox stood transfixed by the giant orange firebird, well aware of who as behind it. It was strangely beautiful, majestic... she half expected it to give a war cry as it circled the top of the Senate building, then began plummeting towards the group. Jubilee screamed as the bird's nosedive revealed its truly monstrous size, and the piercing sound snapped the rest of the X-Men out of their seemingly hypnotic trance. Fox was about burst into hyper-speed when she noticed Jean Grey leaping forward. 

The first one to act, Jean Grey launched a powerful telekinetic blast at the firebird, deflecting it away from the group. Pyro struggled against Jean's telekinesis, teeth gritted in determination while pushing with all his might to inflame the X-Men. Jean Grey responded by pushing harder with her telekinesis, and a reverse tug-of-war began in the air. 

Cyclops chose that moment to aim an optic blast at Pyro. Or rather, the rooftop directly underneath him. The crimson laser shattered the part of the building Pyro was standing on, and the teenager cried out in horror as his foundations collapsed from beneath him. Pyro tumbled from the rooftop and plunged towards the earth below, losing control of his self-generated firebird. The bird disintegrated and reverted to ordinary flames which rained down onto the grass around the X-Men. Iceman quickly raised his arm, and sent streams of frost across the ground in order to extinguish the flames. 

An invisible force grabbed Pyro around the waist mid-fall and slowed his descent, directing the fire manipulator to a soft landing. Bewildered, Pyro looked up to see Psylocke, arm extended, and he realised it was her who had saved him using her telekinesis. She was walking calmly towards the X-Men, purple hair swinging and dark eyes narrowed. _Don't just stand there,_ she said telepathically to Pyro, releasing her psychic hold on him and raising the other arm to attack. _Get them!_

She launched a psychic blast at three of the senior X-Men: Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey. Her telekinesis sent Cyclops and Jean flying towards the iron blockade, while Wolverine went crashing into the opposite direction. Jean Grey quickly tried to counter with her own telekinesis but she and Scott still hit the wall forcefully, while Wolverine collided painfully with Storm. The weather goddess lost concentration and the fog lifted, giving all the chance to fully observe their surroundings. 

Before Pyro could flick his lighter open and join in the attack, a voice that he hadn't heard in months halted him. 

"Hey there, Allerdyce." 

Iceman. Pyro's former best friend and polar opposite stood face-to-face with him, his stare sending chills down Pyro's spine. Pyro shook aside the irony, and gave Iceman an unfeeling glare, forgetting the rest of the X-Men for the time being. 

"It doesn't have to be like this, John," Iceman said, his tone almost pleading. "We were friends!" 

For a moment his words stunned Pyro, and he felt an icy dagger piercing his heart. But Pyro ignored his emotions, the only thing he allowed himself to feel now was hatred. Brown eyes burning, voice edged with acid, Pyro made his reply. 

"Not any more, Bobby. And it's _Pyro_." 

Seizing a flame from his trusty lighter, Pyro blasted it with true force at his former friend, giving an incomprehensible cry. Iceman countered easily, raising his hand calmly and freezing the flames mid-air. Pyro gaped as what had been fire – now solid ice – hit the ground and shattered. Iceman had grown much more powerful since they had last met. 

Taking this as a challenge, a wild rage boiled up inside Pyro as he once again summoned the power of fire. 

Meanwhile Fox charged forward in a seething rage at the telepath Psylocke, furious that the woman had just hurt four of her teachers. Fists clenched into a ball, Fox broke into a run, getting ready to deliver the spinning high-kick of a lifetime, with Rogue in hot pursuit. 

Psylocke seized the two teenagers using her telekinesis and lifted them into the air. Each struggled feebly, when Psylocke suddenly shrieked and dropped to her knees, hands clutching her head. Fox and Rogue were released from her telekinetic hold and hit the ground, hard. Looking up in confusion, Fox saw Psylocke screaming in agony as Jean Grey ran forward, right arm outstretched and eyes furrowed in concentration. Using her telepathy, Jean was sending 'mental bolts' through Psylocke's mind, stunning the enemy telepath and momentarily disabling Psylocke's powers. 

"I can take her!" Jean shouted over Psylocke's screams, "The rest of you, _go!_ Get to the entrance!"

"This vay!" Nightcrawler shouted to the teenagers, and Fox, Rogue and Jubilee began the race for the entrance to the Senate, followed by a limping Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm. All of a sudden, in a flash of jade, Toad somersaulted onto the scene, landing on Rogue's back hard and snatching Nightcrawler off the ground with his long, green tongue. 

A crimson blast pieced the air, missing Toad but shocking the mutant enough to knock him off balance. In a puff of brimstone, Nightcrawler teleported out of Toad's grasp, reappearing mid-air to deliver a somersault kick. Toad sprang out of range, dodging another of Cyclops's red lasers as he climbed swiftly up the side of the Senate building. Nightcrawler followed, teleporting through the air, using his skills as both an acrobat and a fighter to attack Toad. 

"Keep going!" Cyclops shouted. Jean Grey was telepathically battling Psylocke, Nightcrawler was occupying Toad, and Iceman was locked in combat with Pyro. That left Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Fox, Jubilee and Rogue (who was now injured) – they could still make it inside the Senate building. Wolverine suddenly sprinted forward, adamantinum claws drawn and yelling in an impulsive berserk rage. Jubilee, occupied with helping Rogue, looked up in time to see the cause of Wolverine's outburst – a flash of fur, followed by a savage roar... 

Sabretooth hurtled forward in a blind fury and unbelievable speed, clashing violently with Wolverine. Wolverine plunged his claws into the beast's chest only to be thrown high into the air and slammed into the wall of the Senate building. Sabretooth gave a roar of triumph and turned towards his real target – Storm. 

Cyclops shoved the teenagers to the wall, trying to keep them out of range as he aimed his visor at the blur of fur. But he needn't have bothered – this time Storm had the advantage of being outside, where the weather was hers to control. Spreading her arms wide in the 'goddess' manoeuvre once again, her dark eyes glazed over to a demon white, and black clouds quickly gathered around herself and Sabretooth. 

"Go on, Cyclops," she called, the winds now growing in power, "I can take it from here." 

Sabretooth looked cautiously up at the changing sky, when Storm moved her arms in front of her, the manoeuvre forming a funnel of gushing wind around the beast, trapping him. Sabretooth gave a bellow of fury, but the winds kept him cemented in place, spiralling around like a tornado. 

Fox, who was watching the scene with fascination, suddenly recoiled, sensing an attack about to occur within the next split second. Yelling, "Get down!" she lunged forward, seizing Cyclops and tackling him to the ground. Before the leader could comprehend why, a flash of silver sliced through the air above their heads, and the fearsome Lady Deathstrike made her entrance. 

At first she focused her attacks on Cyclops, Fox, Rogue and Jubilee – Mystique had instructed each Brotherhood member to try and divide the group as much as possible. With her adamantinum fingernails making the metallic _schnikt_ sound, Lady Deathstrike dodged a red laser and launched her famous 'helicopter' move, spinning through the air with her sword-like fingernails outstretched in hope of slashing one or two X-Men. Despite missing the teenagers Deathstrike managed to slice Cyclops' visor in half, and as shards of ruby quartz shattered onto the ground the X-Men's leader fell forward, knowing he was at a considerable disadvantage. Without his visor Cyclops was unable to control his power - thus he was rendered practically blind. Shutting his eyes tightly, Cyclops groped around the ground blindly, fearful of opening his eyes lest he injure fellow X-Men or even hostages. 

Rogue and Jubilee quickly leapt in opposite directions to divert Lady Deathstrike, Jubilee flinging an arm forward and discharging a multitude of powerful coloured fireworks. This tactic worked in distracting the Brotherhood member, momentarily blinding Lady Deathstrike. 

Fox sprang to her feet and attacked, skidding across the ground and letting her feet fly in a low kick. Lady Deathstrike was caught by Fox's first kick and stumbled against the wall, and in that moment it dawned on Fox as to how to defeat the Brotherhood member with a combat tactic. Lady Deathstrike was fast, but Fox was _faster_, and if she kept to low attacks and stayed out of her claws' range, Fox could bring the woman down. 

But before Fox could attack again, Wolverine intervened. "Why don't ya pick on someone ya own size, _bub_?" he called to Deathstrike, holding his arms out to expose his famous adamantinum claws. Lady Deathstrike gave a soft growl at the sight of her arch-rival, choosing to ignore the rest of the X-Men and go for Wolverine. 

"Go! You kids have to get to the virus!" Wolverine shouted, before lunging towards Lady Deathstrike. 

"C'mon!" Jubilee yelled, making a run for the entrance. That's when she noticed the circle of spectators which had gathered (though at a safe distance) around the X-Men and the Brotherhood's battleground. Their attention-grabbing fight with both Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike had attracted the attention of many of the human hostages trapped inside the metal confines of the Senate building. 

Rogue, who was watching Wolverine's battle with Lady Deathstrike doubtfully, reluctantly followed Jubilee to the entrance, with Fox lagging behind. 

"Wait! We can't just leave him!" Fox shouted. She knelt beside Cyclops who was fumbling desperately around the ground for his visor. "Cyclops?" She cautiously placed her hands on his shoulders, and gently helped him to his feet. 

"Fox?" he replied, "Where's my visor? I can't open my eyes! What's going on out there?" 

Without answering, Fox led Cyclops towards Rogue and Jubilee. "We have to get inside together," she said both to Cyclops, as well as Rogue and Jubilee. "Cyclops can blast the virus, but we have to be his eyes for now." Jubilee and Rogue looked at each other, gave a slight nod of agreement, and continued to lead the way to the entrance. Rogue could make out the stairs leading up to the entrance now. 

"Wait!" a familiar voice shouted frantically from behind them, halting them in their tracks. The three girls whirled around to see Iceman sprinting through the crowd, waving his arms to stop them. "Rogue! Stop!" 

"Bobby?" Rogue called, Fox and Jubilee turning questioningly towards him. "We have to get inside!" 

"No!" he replied, now close enough for them to see into his eyes. "Come back. It's a trap!" 

All three girls' eyes mirrored each other's confusion. "What-" 

Iceman's eyes gave off a golden hue, and suddenly he executed an amazing forwards flip, one foot connecting with Jubilee, sending her flying towards the small crowd. Turning on his other leg like a corkscrew, a crescent-kick struck a stunned Rogue across the face, knocking her to the ground. 

Fox's mouth gaped in shock as Iceman's skin slowly transformed from a creamy tan, to blue and scaled, his fair hair turning into a shocking red. From Iceman's form now stood Mystique, elegant, formidable, and compelling. Her eyes glowed a sinister gold as she smiled slowly, as if to say, _You're mine_. 

Jubilee had been thrown too far away to intervene, Rogue was almost unconscious and Mystique was advancing quickly towards Fox. 

"Oh... fuck..." was all Fox could think to say. 


	11. The Confrontation

Fox acted instinctively. "Cyclops, open your eyes!" she yelled, turning his head to face Mystique. Without a second thought, Cyclops decided to trust Fox's judgement and opened his eyelids.

A brilliant, powerful optic blast discharged from Cyclops's eyes, slicing through the air with a thunderous explosion. For a moment all Fox could see was red and she closed her own eyes tight, surprised at the force of Cyclops's laser. As the air cleared she realised with frustration that Cyclops's laser had missed Mystique, but the sheer power of it had thrown the meta-morph backwards, and she had landed on the steps of the Senate building hard.

Fox rotated Cyclops's head to where Mystique was lying on her back, slightly dazed. "Again! Quick!" she shouted, unaware of the tactical error she'd just made.

The red optic blast once again exploded from Cyclops's eyes, but without the visor it was erratic and too powerful to be controlled properly. Fox gasped as she realised her mistake – instead of hitting Mystique the laser blasted into the _Senate building_, demolishing a huge section of a wall and causing wreckage to rain onto the scattered crowd of hostages.

"Aw man!" she cried in dismay. Cyclops, who suddenly realised what damage he'd just done, shut his eyes tightly once more, refusing to open them again. Abandoning him, Fox sprinted forward, entering her super-speed in order to save two humans about to be crushed by heavy debris. Feeling the world around her slow down, Fox raced desperately to close the gap between her and the two young women, seizing them both and using her speed to propel them away from the falling wreckage.

The debris smashed onto the steps below, as both women were pulled to safety by Fox. They each gave a violent lurch as people often did when they were rapidly yanked through Fox's hyper-speed, but before the women realised they'd been saved from death by a teenage mutant, Fox had disappeared into the crowd again, a mere blur of light against time.

* * *

Lying on her back, feeling pain throb through her body in strong, steady pulses, Jubilee's eyes focused on the skies. It was stormy again, with a blur of dark clouds scattered in abstract patterns across the sky. It was obscure, calm, and strangely frightening. Her lids slowly opened wider as an orange flicker, a lightning flash, bounced from earth to the dark clouds, reflecting in the haze of the sky. Fire.

Jubilee arduously lifted her upper body from the ground, her head still spinning from when she struck the ground. Shots of pain pulsed through any muscle that she attempted to move – her arms, her shoulders, her neck – but the Asian teenager forced her mind to focus, telling herself that her team needed her. The crowd of hostages had scattered in panic – Jubilee couldn't believe the frenzied scene before her as people run screaming in equally frantic and opposite directions. She'd heard the explosion of Cyclops's laser blasting into the Senate building, and could just make out a streak of light darting in and out of falling debris, which she guessed to be Fox.

_What a Goddamn disaster,_ Jubilee thought miserably. Cyclops's plan had been nothing short of a glorified cowboys-and-Indians style clash, with the X-Men planning to charge easily through the enemy mutants and disarm that Fatalite virus in a matter of minutes. But this plan had fallen to pieces now, Cyclops's mistake lying in underestimating the Brotherhood and the amount of members they had. Now, every single adult X-Man found their hands full with an enemy mutant, while Rogue lay unconscious and riddled with injury, Fox desperately tried to protect human hostages from falling debris and Brotherhood crossfire, and Cyclops crawled blindly along the ground. The virus's time-release clock was still ticking, but now the X-Men's priorities lay in defeating the Brotherhood. And where were Magneto and Dr Reyes?

Up above, two obscure blurs of colour flitted about the roof – emerald and blue, Toad and Nightcrawler. The acrobatic mutants were fighting a spectacularly dangerous and daring battle, both on the roof and in the air. Whether Toad or Nightcrawler was winning was unclear, but one was bound to plummet sooner or later. To Jubilee's far right, the two telepaths were still locked in battle, each launching telekinetic blasts and mental bolts alternately. Their psychic battle was taking its toll on both Jean Grey and Psylocke, who were visibly tiring.

Jubilee watched with fear and anger as Psylocke managed to somehow distract Jean Grey, and take the opportunity to knock Storm out cold with a psychic attack. Now Sabretooth was free from Storm's meteorological fury, and he and Lady Deathstrike teamed up to bring down Wolverine. No, the odds did not look good.

But what had caught Jubilee's attention was the luminosity of a fire, and looking up, she could see just that. A vast blaze of fire danced around a teenage boy she knew too well, as he summoned a multitude of fireballs of varying size to shoot forward. The victim of the pyrokinetic's wrath was Bobby Drake, who desperately tried to defend himself with his power over ice. Iceman and Pyro had waged an elemental war from the time when the X-Men had breached the iron barricade, but it was clear to Jubilee that Pyro had since gained the upper hand in the battle; his volatile temper and clear disregard for their former friendship being his advantage.

Jubilee pulled herself to her feet, invigorated and furious at Iceman's being attacked in this way. She had to help. Brushing the gravel from her limbs and face, she sprinted towards the war between fire and ice.

* * *

Pyro laughed as he controlled the millions of fireballs with ease, carefully manoeuvring them to zigzag through the air and fly towards Iceman. A small part of him was shocked at how he could find burning his former best friend alive amusing, but the deep wrath within Pyro raged on, not allowing him to feel remorse or fear. Iceman had already suffered burn wounds to the face, but his X-Men suit gave him some protection against the heat, so he battled on.

Iceman encased his body in ice in an attempt to ward off the flames. This solid, frozen shield didn't harm Iceman in any way and worked temporarily in sheltering his body from being burned, but Pyro quickly figured out a way top overcome that by coating the ice shield with fire. Iceman had to concentrate to stop it from melting. Fast.

A shriek pierced the air, ringing through Pyro's ears like the scream of a ghost.

"John, _stop!_"

Pyro glanced in irritation to his left and saw Jubilation Lee, an arm raised defensively. "Leave him alone!" she shouted. "We don't want to fight you!"

Jubilee had virtually said the opposite of what she really believed – she would like nothing more than to blow Pyro's face up for hurting Iceman – but her cry had worked in distracting Pyro and the flames that threatened to engulf Iceman vanished.

"You don't want to fight? That's what you're here for, Jubes."

"It's not too late," she argued. "Come with us! We can still stop that virus. We can be friends again..."

"No fucking way," Pyro replied, tone sharp as the edge of a knife. "You're wrong, it is too late." There was a metallic _flick_ as Pyro ignited his Zippo shark. "For _you_."

Opening his hand to reveal a menacing-looking fireball, Pyro enlarged it to the size of Jubilee's head, and blasted it at her. She screamed and countered with an array of energy globes, her fireworks. The fireball and fireworks collided mid-air with a massive _bang_, the force of the explosion throwing both Jubilee and Pyro backwards in opposite directions. Jubilee once again landed on her back, as Pyro went flying into the wall of the Senate building, hitting the ground and lying still.

Iceman ran to Jubilee, helping her to her feet while saying, "If we live through this... remind me to thank you!" Together they ran to help the other adult X-Men.

* * *

_Pyro, get up! Get up! Help me! _

Psylocke. Still holding his head in shock, Pyro slowly slid his back up the wall, using it to support him to his feet. The explosion rang in his ears, and his head throbbed with pain, but Pyro heeded the telepath's words. Iceman had gone, and for a moment Pyro wondered briefly how long he had been knocked out. But then he saw the predicament Psylocke was in, and why she had called for his help.

Jean Grey had Psylocke suspended mid-air, and had somehow shielded her own mind from further telepathic attack. Psylocke wasn't as powerful as Jean Grey, and the doctor now levitated her six feet from the ground while attacking her telepathically. She was screaming and struggled vainly but Jean Grey continued her attack, her eyes now glowing... _red_?

Pyro seized his lighter from the ground and surrounded Dr Jean Grey with a wall of fire, breaking her concentration. Psylocke was released from her hold and Jean Grey turned to her former student, her expression unreadable. She was outnumbered.

Pyro attacked her with flames and fireballs, with Jean Grey easily deflecting them with her telekinesis. But this served only as a distraction, and Psylocke gave an enraged scream as she threw Jean Grey into the iron blockade with all the strength her telekinesis could muster. The Brotherhood was slowly regaining control of the battle.

* * *

"Rogue! Rogue!"

Rogue rolled over painfully in the gravel, tasting the blood that was beginning to fill the inside of her mouth. Slowly, she struggled to remember the events of the past few minutes... Iceman running towards her... receiving a severe blow to the side of the face... Yellow eyes...

Fox was leaning over her, being careful not to touch her skin as she held Rogue's shoulders. "Shit, you're hurt!" Fox exclaimed, eyes glued to the scarlet blood that coated half of the Southern belle's face and tinted the white strands of her hair red.

Rogue's eyes suddenly flashed with anger as she recalled Mystique's deception. "I'm ok, I'm ok! I can get up."

Fox watched with concern and doubt as Rogue struggled to get to her feet. She still sustained injuries from when Toad had almost crushed her back but she gritted her teeth and beared the pain. "What happened? Where's Mystique? And the others? We have to destroy that virus!"

Fox shook her head, and simply pointed to the entrance to the Senate building. Rogue's eyes bulged as she saw the remains of the building, and the strange, yellow, aura-like glow that now surrounded it like a bubble. "What the _hell_ is _that?_"

"Mystique retreated inside," Fox explained, "Iceman and Jubes are back there somewhere, helping Storm, Cyclops and Wolverine. Nightcrawler and Toad have disappeared, and I haven't seen Ms Grey. And _that_," she added, "Is Doctor Reyes."

"That yellow thing?"

Fox frowned. "I've seen her do it before. She can create this energy shield around herself. It's foolproof – nothing can penetrate it. I've been trying to get Cyclops to blast through the thing but it's not working."

Rogue stared with disbelief at the flickering, yellow force field that now surrounded the Senate building. It was massive. "She can create an energy shield that big? Around a whole building?"

"Apparently. She must have amplified her power somehow. But the question is, how the _fuck_ do we get to that virus now?" Fox asked, channelling her frustration and anger through clenching her fists and punching her thighs. All those innocent people who were trapped inside the iron barricade, many of whom she had rescued from being crushed or blasted, would all die if they couldn't find a way to get through that shield.

Rogue who was standing shakily, suddenly buckled over and almost collapsed again. Fox seized her and tried to keep her steady. "Rogue, you are _not_ ok! You're injured, tell me what I can do! How do I help you? Rogue!"

Rogue closed her eyes tight, now shaking. Her stomach and other various internal organs felt as if they had been crushed, and blood was still running down her face. There was nothing Fox could do to help her, unless...

"Fox..." she whispered weakly, "Where's Wolverine? And Deathstrike?"

Holding Rogue steady, Fox scanned the Senate grounds. "They're still fighting. Iceman's lending Wolvie a hand."

"Listen, Lady Deathstrike has a healing factor. I need you to get me to her. If I touch her for two seconds..."

Catching on immediately, Fox gripped Rogue tighter while she ripped off her gloves. "Get ready to touch her, Rogue," she advised with a wink. "She's fast. But I'm faster."

Before Rogue could nod her agreement Fox entered her super-speed, hauling Rogue along with her and sprinting to reach Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike's battle. Rogue gasped as she felt her body jerk hard in response to the sudden, rapid movement – it was like standing on top of a bullet train. And suddenly, she was behind Lady Deathstrike.

Iceman had encased Lady Deathstrike's feet in ice, gluing her to the ground, and as Deathstrike whipped around to attack Fox who was well within striking range, Rogue reached out and gripped her face with both bare hands.

Deathstrike froze, gasping and choking, as Rogue's skin slowly absorbed her powers, memories and her very life force. Her skin began to crack and bleed around her face where Rogue's hands were clamped firmly, until she finally fell, convulsing, to the ground.

Feeling an invigorating power surge from within Lady Deathstrike, through her hands and into her, Rogue allowed a smile to spread across her face. She could feel her internal wounds slowly mending, while her shattered jaw repaired almost instantly. Unfortunately, she also had memories of William Stryker and recipes for Okonomiyaki Pancakes floating around inside her head, along with Deathstrike's personality which screamed to be let out.

Wolverine, who still stood poised to attack Lady Deathstrike, raised an eyebrow in concern. "_What the hell?_ Rogue? You alright?"

She grinned back. "Hell yes!"

"Right," Wolverine said with authority, being the only adult around. "Iceman, Rogue – you're with me. We have to get to Cyclops, Storm and Jubilee. Fox – Jean and Nightcrawler are still back there: find them. Force 'em to retreat if you have to. And use that handy speed thing, we're running outta time. Rendezvous at the Senate entrance. We have to regroup and get to that damn virus. Got that?"

Fox gave him a grin and a mock salute, certain that the tables were turning for the better. She entered her hyper-speed again, sprinting to the back of the building where she had last seen Jean Grey. Meanwhile Wolverine, Iceman and Rogue headed to where Jubilee was struggling to defend Storm's unconscious body from Sabretooth.

* * *

"Nice one," Pyro commented, seeing Jean's body lying lifelessly still beneath the iron blockade. He flicked his lighter on, watching the naked flame dance before snapping it shut. "That'll show her for giving me a fail for biology," he joked.

Psylocke scowled, a hand clutching her purple hair. "The bitch tore my head apart!"

Pyro was about to reply when he suddenly flinched, as the wall behind him bulged, then burst forward, showering them with plaster and other debris. From the gaping hole left behind, Dr Reyes walked forward, some sort of gun in her hand.

"There you two are," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Get inside, now. We're retreating, no time to explain."

She disappeared inside while Pyro and Psylocke stared after her.

"_Retreat?_" Pyro repeated indignantly. Nonetheless he went to follow the doctor, when Psylocke stopped him.

"Wait," she barked. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"Just don't go in there..." she said slowly, furrowing her brows as if trying to figure out a hidden message. "I think they – _aaarrgh!!_"

Psylocke grabbed her head again and fell to the ground, writhing. Pyro dropped his into his pocket and ran to her side. "What is it? What's wrong? _Psylocke?_"

Jean Grey had regained consciousness, and from the ground she had fired psychic 'metal bolts' into Psylocke's mind, this rendering her inert. Pyro looked up in fury at Jean Grey, who was still weak from bruising and other injuries from colliding with the wall.

Summoning fire from his Zippo shark, Pyro blasted it at Jean, and almost at the same time a yellow energy force-field materialised around the Senate building. The shield's sudden appearance distracted Jean and she screamed in agony as the fire made contact, charring and burning her flesh.

A flash of light zipped onto the scene, first focusing its attention on removing Jean Grey from danger and dragging her away, then returning to face Pyro.

It was Fox. The leather X-Men uniform clung to her body as if to torment him with what he knew he wanted, and what he knew he hated. Pyro felt a thousand daggers stab his heart as she glared fiercely at him. The angry stare now painted her beautiful face into one of dark hatred while her hair swung around wildly around her face.

"You _burned_ her!" she accused needlessly, furiously. "You were going to kill her!"

Pyro desperately tried to compose himself, knowing this was the moment when he would have to choose between Fox and the Brotherhood. Psylocke lay unconscious still, and since she had saved his life, he wanted to protect her from Fox who stood fuming, ready to snap. Yet at the same time he wanted to reach out to Fox, the only one who saw him as he truly was...

Reaching for the safety of his lighter, Pyro said, "Fox, listen. I don't want to fight you. Because I'm going to hurt you. Understand? So just turn around and walk away now."

Fox was indignant yet vaguely amused at hearing the words she spoke so often to human street-fighters being spoken to _her _this time. _Just walk away. You're going to get hurt._

But Pyro was the enemy. She had to hold him off before he discovered the rest of the X-Men trying to break through Dr Reyes's energy shield. If she didn't combat him, he would attack another member of the X-Men. She _had _to fight him.

"No Pyro, it's _you_ who ought to walk away. You're better than this," she said, indicating with her head towards the yellow bubble that now engulfed the Senate building. "You're not just some evil lackey or whatever. And I know you don't want all those people to die out there, because of this."

"Shut up," he snapped. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

"Yeah, I do. I know you."

Before having time to ignite his lighter, Fox quickly leapt forward, kicking it out of his hand. Pyro gave a yell of anger and went to strike her, but she dodged easily, and kicked the lighter further away. Pyro hated to admit it, but without that Zippo shark he was powerless. And he had the funny feeling that Fox was aware of this.

Fox was a lot smaller than him, so Pyro chose to enter the fight with his fists flying. Fox avoided every attack with no trouble, and even as Pyro advanced and drove her further towards the iron blockade, she didn't hit him back. _This is getting us nowhere,_ Pyro thought, _She's too damn fast for me to hit her, but she's refusing to hit me. We're wasting time._

"Fox, dammit!" he shouted finally, standing back for a moment. "You're not even trying. Hit me!"

"What?"

"You're always looking for a fight, now you've got one and you're backing away? What are you afraid of? Hurting me? _Hit me!_"

It happened too fast for him to comprehend what she did, but somehow Pyro was now lying on the ground, numb pain beginning to emit from his limbs. Fox had tackled him to the ground using the momentum from her hyper-speed.

"Alright," she hissed. "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight."


	12. Burning questions, bloodied answers

A/N: Thanks to all you reviewers so far! I've give you all a personal shout out once I actually finish this thing. Which isn't too far off ;) You've really kept me going, despite the fact that I should be devoting my time to my schoolwork... and revision... and final exams... and graduation in a month... Ooops...

Well, anyway, read on!! :)

* * *

Pyro jumped back to his feet but Fox was already lunging forward, spinning 90 degrees on one foot and bringing the other crashing into his chest. He staggered backward from impact, breathing now laborious, and reached backwards for the remains of the Senate building's wall to steady himself. Fox was a lot more powerful than Pyro would have guessed, and she also had the advantage of her martial arts training.

Again Fox attacked, sending a fist flying towards Pyro's jaw, but this time he was able to block. He deterred her fist and seized her other arm, throwing her against the wall and trying to lock her arms in such a way that she couldn't move. Fox somehow managed to twist out of his grip, and having no choice but to escape she used the Senate wall to kick off, back-flipping away and recovering distance between herself and Pyro.

Pyro held his fists ready, in the defensive position he often saw used on TV and by other hand-to-hand fighters such as Mystique. Fox imitated the movement, placing her own fists into a karate position. There was an uneasy pause as each waited for the other to make a move, then Pyro charged forward, aiming an uppercut punch towards Fox's chin.

Catching his arm mid-swing, Fox twisted it, fast. Pyro gave a cry of pain as she kicked his legs off balance, and he hit the ground once more.

"C'mon flamer, you're not gonna let a girl kick your ass, are ya?" she asked playfully, opening her arms wide, palms flat, a smirk finding its way across her face.

Half annoyed, half amused, Pyro watched as Fox once again backed away, giving him time to get to his feet again. His eyes scanned the ground, his hands fumbling about the gravel desperately in search of his lighter, but to no avail. He was going to have to fight Fox hand-to-hand.

_Shit. This could take a while._

* * *

The X-Men had now gathered at the Senate entrance, having defeated the majority of the Brotherhood. Cyclops, Iceman and Jubilee were all using their powers to attack the energy shield that surrounded the Senate, trying vainly to break through, while Rogue and Wolverine attempted to revive Storm and Jean Grey. Both of the X-Women had suffered the worst of the injuries. Storm had been knocked out by a mental bolt from Psylocke, and Jean had drifted into unconsciousness after suffering burn wounds.

"We can't break through the shield!" Iceman called out hopelessly. "It's too strong! We need Nightcrawler to teleport somebody inside."

Wolverine instructed Iceman to use his power to treat Jean's burns instead, when he realised that both Fox and Nightcrawler were still missing.

When Fox had brought Jean Grey to safety before and left her in the arms of Wolverine, he didn't give a second thought as to where the teenager went from there. His concern for the doctor instinctively took over all thought processes. Jean's entire upper body was covered in first degree burns, presumably at the hands of Pyro.

_Wait_, something barked into Wolverine's mind. _Pyro? ...Fox?_

"Oh, _shit!_"

* * *

Fox landed on her back in the rough gravel, gasping, momentarily winded. Pyro hovered over her, having managed to land a blow to her stomach. _Damn him. _Fox's unwillingness to seriously hurt Pyro was now working to her disadvantage. All of Pyro's actions, thoughts and decisions were currently dominated by his volatile temper and irrepressible anger, causing him to lash out blindly at the girl. Fox had managed to maintain control throughout most of the fight, using her speed and knowledge of self-defence, but despite this she was still reluctant to harm Pyro, and now he was slowly getting the better of her.

"C'mon, _Foxy_," he teased, a grin spreading across his face. "That all you got?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Hell no."

She quickly rolled over as Pyro let his fist fly into the ground where her body had been, kicking her right leg into his side, hard. With precious time bought, she leapt to her feet, regaining some distance between her and her opponent. As Pyro reeled from Fox's kick, she launched further attack, landing a crescent kick across his face.

Pyro gave a growl of anger and pain as he staggered backwards, and noticed Fox waiting for him to recover before she went to strike him again.

_Why does she keep doing that? _Pyro thought in perplexity. He'd noticed this pattern in Fox's mode of attack: she'd wait for Pyro to strike, he'd try to hit her, she'd dodge, land some sort of blow to his chest or face, then dart away and wait. She _always_ backed away and waited for him to make the next move. _Why? _

Fox attacked again, and it was clear now that she was gradually losing her fear of hurting him. Now Pyro had to rack his brains for a way to defeat her. He had to outsmart her, 'outfox' her... somehow. She was fast, she was intelligent and she was skilled. But why did she keep drawing back?_ What was her weakness? _

Studying her petite figure, the answer suddenly leapt into his mind. _Brute force_. Fox was skilful, but she was only small. The strength behind her fighting moves only came from the drive of her mutation, her super-speed. But at a very close range, her muscle power was limited. _That's_ why she needed to keep a certain distance between them, because her speed, martial arts moves and skills could only come into play then. If Fox got too close, Pyro had the advantage of being the stronger one, and he could use that against her. Now, he had to figure out a way to corner her: that way he could overpower her.

Fox crouched low to the ground, then suddenly jumped into the air, aiming a series of spinning high kicks at Pyro. Instead of trying to avoid the kicks or block the attack, Pyro closed his eyes and dove forward, straight into her. Her foot slammed into his shoulder painfully, but he continued his lunge, seizing her shoulders and wrestling her to the ground.

Fox gave a cry of shock and pain at the sudden attack, once again landing on the gravel. Panicking, she kicked and squirmed to free herself, even attempting to head-butt him. But Pyro held strong, pinning her thighs to the ground with his knees, restraining her tiny wrists with just one hand and using all his strength to weigh her down.

Raising his free hand high above Fox's head, Pyro clenched a fist, ready to smash it into her face. However, he made the mistake of looking into her eyes, which were now round and intense with fear. Noticing his hesitation, Fox spoke. "Stop..."

Something inside Pyro froze: the flames of rage that danced deep within his being were suddenly silenced, transformed into silent, glowing ambers instead of the raging inferno of hatred he had acted upon for so long. Fox's eyes locked with his, and suddenly Pyro's mind flooded with memories of the first night they'd met, when they had first really looked at each other. The intensity of her gaze, the passion and fire he'd seen flicker and come to life within her eyes. The way she had entranced him, reaching deep within his illusory soul like nobody else had with a simple look. That night Fox had stirred up a passion inside Pyro, one which was so intense and fervent he never thought its very existence was possible...

Pyro's fist lingered in the air uncertainly, then dropped back by his side. That was it, he'd been acting upon his rage for too long, and without even meaning to Fox had single-handedly extinguished the flames of anger he harboured. All the feelings of remorse, friendship, love and integrity, which he had buried during the battle, now burst to the surface. Pyro let his head fall forward, coming to a rest alongside Fox's neck. He let go of her wrists but she didn't move, couldn't.

"I can't do this," he murmured, "It's killing me."

Her breathing was rapid and erratic. "We're enemies. We have to fight. You said so yourself."

Pyro lifted his head, turning it to look into her eyes again. In the distance, explosions could be heard as the X-Men crusaded on, trying to breach Dr Reyes's shield. Inside, they both knew that the time-release for the Fatalite virus was still ticking. But suddenly the circumstances seemed surreal, dreamlike, as if neither was truly a part of this war between good and evil. All they could see or hear was each other.

"You know, my offer still stands."

"What?"

"We don't have to be enemies. We don't have to fight each other. You can still ditch the X-Geeks and join the Brotherhood."

Despite herself, Fox found a chuckle escaping her lips at Pyro's nickname for the X-Men. Then she frowned. "And you can still come with me."

Pyro shook his head. "No way. I have no place there. This is where I belong."

They looked in frustration and despair at each other, the hopelessness of the situation now settling in. Neither was willing to abandon their team, yet they felt too strongly for each other to stop their relationship. How could you love and hate someone at the same time? How could you hang in limbo like this; never choosing, never deciding whether you were more dedicated to your team or your lover? When did they go from lovers to enemies?

"Fox, I can't fight you. I need you. We can't keep hanging like this."

She couldn't find the words to reply, instead choosing to express herself by lifting her head and kissing Pyro passionately. Pyro found himself responding eagerly, pressing his lips against hers firmly and letting his hands roam the leather that hugged Fox's body. It was ridiculous – both their teams were at war with each other at that very moment, both Fox and Pyro were fighting for equally opposite and forceful beliefs – and yet here they were, a tangled mass of limbs, lips locked together like any other pair of teenagers, anywhere in the world. Each hoped the moment would last forever, for in that instant of time, nothing mattered but the flow of desire between them.

* * *

Nightcrawler had been lucky. The second that Dr Reyes's yellow energy shield engulfed the Senate building during his battle with Toad, he had only just been able to escape and teleport safely to the ground. Toad however was trapped in the force field, and although Nightcrawler wasn't certain of his fate he was pretty sure it involved getting fried.

Toad hadn't been an easy opponent, and Nightcrawler now sustained a fair amount of bruising from this fight, even suspecting that one of his ribs was broken. Not only that, but Toad's 'phlegm' coated half of his head, the revolting green goo sticking impossibly to the side of Nightcrawler's face. He shuddered, but there was no time to think of that now. Nightcrawler had to help his comrades.

A few metres away, Nightcrawler could make out three figures on the ground. One was Psylocke, still unconscious, and he recognised the other two as being Pyro and Fox. Realising that Fox was under attack, Nightcrawler darted forward to her rescue, seizing Pyro by the shoulders and disappearing in an explosion of brimstone and sulphur.

"What the-" Fox sat up in surprise, unable to comprehend what just happened. Pyro had simply vanished. Suddenly the cloud of brimstone reappeared mid-air a few metres away, and from it Pyro was dropped. Fox watched in astonishment as Pyro tumbled from the air to the ground.

"Whoa!" she yelled, but before she could even get to her feet, she too was seized by a pair of furry hands and consumed by the cloud of brimstone.

Fox felt a timeless, floating sensation, as if she was underwater or in outer space, followed by the abrupt _BAMF!_ as she reappeared in the real world. She was now standing at the iron blockade that surrounded the Senate building, far away from where she had fought Pyro, and adjacent to the Senate entrance. Fox just stared, dizzy and bewildered.

"You are hurt, Little One, no?" The familiar soothing voice, with heavy German intonation, came floating into her ears from behind. Fox recognised Nightcrawler immediately, who still kept a steady grip on her arms. His teasing use of the nickname 'Little One' was intended as a pun on her size, but regardless Nightcrawler was examining Fox with true concern.

Fox had been so abruptly yanked from her passionate kiss with Pyro to being here that at first she couldn't even speak, causing Nightcrawler's anxiety to rise. Then Fox mentally shook herself, looking into Nightcrawler's demonic face with a small smile. "No, I'm ok. Thanks." So, Nightcrawler hadn't seen her and Pyro 'together' – he must have just assumed that they were fighting and that she was injured.

Nightcrawler beamed, revealing his fang-like teeth in a surprisingly pleasant way. "Ah, so how about we go lend the others a hand?"

_Back to reality. _

* * *

_Bzzt... Bzzzzz... Bzzt... _

Pyro blinked, frowned, and turned his head to locate the source of the buzzing sound. He'd been lying on his side for a couple of minutes now, still in shock and infuriated after being teleported into the sky and thrown to the ground. He'd gradually pieced together what had happened, and quietly cursed Nightcrawler for his intervention. Now Fox was long gone, and his entire body was sore as a result of his fall from the sky.

_Bzzt... _

What the hell _was_ that? Pyro's right hand scuffled along the ground until it came across the noise's origin, a small curve of cool metal. Sitting up in anticipation, a scowl crossed Pyro's face as he realised it wasn't his Zippo lighter, but one of the communication earpieces worn by the Brotherhood. Pyro had lost his own earpiece during his clash with Iceman, but perhaps this one belonged to Psylocke, maybe even Toad, and had also been dropped during battle.

_Bzzt... _It was still functioning. Pyro examined it, then cautiously placed it alongside his ear.

"Hello? Someone reading me? _Hello?_"

_Bzzt... BZZT... Bzzt..._

"Yo, _metal-head!_ Mystique? Dr Reyes? _Anybody? _I'm trapped out here!"

There was a brief crackling sound, then, "_Pyro, yes, I'm reading you. What's your status?_"

Mystique. Pyro had never been so glad to hear that multi-octave voice in his life. He cleared his throat. "I'm trapped outside the Senate. The X-Men have regrouped, but as far as I can tell they can't break through the shield."

"_And the hostages?_"

"The hostages are... uh, around somewhere... We lost control of them when the X-Men showed up."

_Bzzt..._ There was a pause, then, "_Alright. And the others?_"

"Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike and Psylocke are all down. I haven't seen Kermit the Frog, but I'm guessing he is too. So are you gonna let me in or what? I'm seriously outnumbered here, and my lighter's missing..."

He thought he heard a sigh, but Mystique quickly spoke again. "_Where are you located?_"

"Towards the back of the building. The doc knows where I am."

There was another pause, then finally Mystique spoke again. "_Acknowledged. Listen carefully. In ten seconds, Dr Reyes says she will create a temporary opening in her shield, but only in the area you described. Be ready, it won't stay open long._"

"Right. I'm out."

Pyro quickly jogged to the wall where he had last seen Dr Reyes, waiting for the shield to open. As a second thought, he carefully lifted Psylocke's body which still lay unmoving but breathing beside the wall, and placed her in a protected position beneath some twisted metal. He would only have time to get himself inside the shield, but at least Psylocke had a chance of being safe.

The shield gave a flicker, then a small opening slowly manifested itself the same place where Dr Reyes had blasted a hole in the Senate wall. Pyro sprinted forward, diving through the opening seconds before it quickly closed up. Breathing quickly, Pyro gave a sigh of relief as he realised he had made it inside the shield without getting any part of his anatomy zapped. He was in.

* * *

"Alright," Cyclops announced, trying to maintain a tone of authority despite having to keep his eyes closed in the absence of his ruby quartz visor. In spite of the peculiarity of the situation, Cyclops had the attention of the full X-Men team. "The shield obviously won't give. We'll have to revert to a change of strategy. Nightcrawler, how many people can you teleport at a time?"

The teleporter gave a shrug. "Perhaps two. Depending on the combined mass. Any more than two people could – how you say – weigh me down."

"Which means we can't get the whole team inside at once. Otherwise you would have to make several trips, Nightcrawler, which would both waste time and be strategically inept. Plus, we need to guard Jean and Storm while they're unconscious, _and_ we have the lives of the hostages to take into account. They may need our protection, should the Brotherhood threaten them in any way. So ideally, at least two X-Men will have to remain behind as well."

Fox glanced over her shoulder at the civilian hostages, who had scattered widely across the Senate grounds. Most were crouched in little groups, huddled together for comfort, while others were solitary, finding shelter in a small corner alone. A lot were eying the X-men with suspicion and fear, but most were simply confused.

Cyclops continued voicing his plan "So, if we're looking at only two X-Men teleporting inside, we're going to need at least one person with an offensive weapon in order to destroy the virus. Keeping in mind that Magneto, Mystique and Dr Reyes are still stationed inside, we'll also need a hand-to-hand fighter for defensive purposes. Are you injured in any way, Nightcrawler?"

Nightcrawler shook his head. "Nien. I will be fine, I can fight."

"Good, so now we need another fighter on the defensive, and a person to destroy the virus. Any takers?"

Wolverine crossed his arms, glancing in the direction of the Senate building. "I'll go," he said gruffly.

"No, Logan, Magneto could control or destroy you effortlessly, thanks to the good old adamantinum skeleton," Cyclops replied coolly. "We have to rule you out. It's too risky."

Wolverine swore quietly and glared at Cyclops. However the X-Men's leader did have a point. "Fine, who then?" Wolverine challenged. "Jean and Storm are out cold and you're practically blind. _Real_ helpful, One-Eye. All we got is the kids."

"Hey!" Fox and Jubilee shouted in annoyance, but Wolverine quickly silenced them with a sharp look.

Iceman piped up. "Look, I'll go. I can freeze the capsule and destroy it easily."

Cyclops nodded in agreement. "Good, so we have Iceman to destroy the virus, and Nightcrawler to back him up. We need another fighter, for cover."

Rogue stirred, looking around awkwardly. She still possessed a temporary healing factor after touching Lady Deathstrike, and had even acquired some of her fighting skills, but Rogue knew that they would soon fade. Lady Deathstrike would be lapsing out of unconsciousness, and as soon as she awoke, Rogue's powers would be lost. Despite this, she was about to volunteer to go with Iceman, when she was cut off.

"I'll go," Fox asserted firmly, placing her hands on her hips.

There was a brief silence, then at least three exclamations of, "No!"

Wolverine was the first to argue. "Kid, you have no idea of what you're up against! Magneto, Mystique... they're more powerful than you could imagine."

"I've run into them before," Fox insisted. "And I have a good knowledge of self-defence. Plus, I can use my super-speed. They won't even know what hit them."

Then Cyclops spoke up. "As much as it pains me, I have to agree with Wolverine. Fox, you're just not experienced enough. Magneto and Mystique can't be underestimated. It's too dangerous for you."

"Listen," Fox snapped, "I've been living dangerously since the day I was born. I know how to hold my own, and you better believe it. This way makes perfect sense, I won't weigh Nightcrawler down for starters, and I'm the only person here who is _not_ injured. Together Nightcrawler, Iceman and I are _very_ capable of taking on the Brotherhood, and if anything happens I can escape like," she clicked her fingers for emphasis, "That. Besides, all we have to do is make sure Iceman can get to the virus without being attacked, right? We can destroy the virus and get out in a matter of minutes. C'mon, we're wasting time standing around _talking_ about it, we need to _act_!"

Cyclops remained adamant, and shook his head. "No, you're too eager. It's to be expected – you're young, after all – but you're also impulsive and reckless _by nature_, Fox. I _know_ that your heart is in the right place, but it's very possible that you will end up making mistakes in there, endangering yourself, and the others around you. Magneto could very well have control of the entire structure, Mystique is an extraordinarily skilled fighter as well as a master of deception, and at this stage we don't even know what Dr Reyes is capable of. The odds aren't in your favour, Fox, I simply can't risk it. Perhaps Jubilee should go, or R-"

Wolverine, who had been looking contemplative during Cyclops's speech, suddenly interjected. "Let Fox go."

All heads turned towards him inquisitively, including the leader of the X-Men's. "Excuse me Wolverine, but just who is in command here?"

"I said, let her go," he repeated loudly, glancing at Fox, a small grin spreading across his face. "She's right."

"What do you mean-"

"Well, we could send Jubes, but she took a hell of a beating from Sabretooth, and she's obviously not at her best right now. It'll risk her safety further. We could send Rogue, but the powers she swiped from Deathstrike are starting to wear off. She could be caught off guard if Deathstrike's powers drain during battle, and besides she might not want to come up against Magneto again. If neither of us adults can go, then Fox is our best bet. Our only bet, actually."

"No Wolverine, she's too-"

"Shut up and listen. Fox _is_ reckless, but that gives her an edge which could work in her favour. And she's fast – for crying out loud, we all know that's her specialty. With her mutation she could outrun Mystique, Magneto, and even that Dr Screwball in there, or she could use her speed to just knock 'em out or something."

"Yes, but-"

"She's come out of battle relatively unharmed so far, no injuries, nothing. The odds of her coming out of the Senate alive are pretty good, almost certain. And you know what else, Cyke?" Wolverine leaned forward ever so slightly, giving Cyclops an aggressive stare while pointing a jabbed finger at Fox. "I watched that kid fight today, I saw her save hostage's lives as well as some lives of the X-Men, and I've seen her training hard ever since she arrived at the school. She's ready, that's all I have to say."

Cyclops opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Fox raised an eyebrow at Cyclops's sudden speechlessness, and turned to give Wolverine an appreciative grin. So Logan _did_ understand her: her need to prove herself, her desire to do what was right, and the potential that simmered beneath the surface. Adult and teenager exchanged a look of understanding, the kind of look only outsiders gave each other. She was in.

* * *

"Hmm, you always did manage to get in and out of tight situations like a charm," the sophisticated drawl of Magneto commented, looking Pyro up and down. "Shame about the lighter. But no matter, there's nothing the X-Men can do about the virus now. We have the situation under complete control. Perhaps you should clean up a bit."

The fire manipulator didn't exactly emerge unscathed – he suffered gashes and cuts from his clash with Iceman, burns from the explosion he and Jubilee caused, bruising from his fight with Fox and now he was limping after being thrown from the sky by Nightcrawler. But at any rate he was still standing – since the X-Men had attacked, The Brotherhood's numbers had been reduced from eight, to four. At least Pyro was one of the few left.

Mystique stood cool and emotionless beside Dr Reyes, yellow eyes silently watching the doctor tamper with the metallic capsule that housed the virus. For some reason Pyro chose that moment to wonder if those two had grown to be close friends during this period. He couldn't imagine either of them making friends in the outside world, but for some reason they seemed suited to each other. After all, Mystique had long been the only woman of the Brotherhood, and Dr Reyes was a kind of outsider too. They both shared a deep hatred for humanity and the intelligence and potential to obliterate all who opposed them. Maybe Mystique and Dr Reyes had formed a friendship or alliance based on those things they had in common. Possibly.

There was an awkward silence, so Pyro deliberately broke it by boldly announcing, "So..."

Magneto, Dr Reyes and Mystique all turned expressionlessly towards him, and suddenly he felt very isolated, as if he were left out of a secret. "Uh... how much time till the time release is set off?"

Dr Reyes frowned. "I originally programmed it to detonate at 2pm. But the X-Men have thwarted us more than I anticipated, so I'm trying to speed up the process. The program's not very responsive, though. I made the capsule _too_ secure, and now even _I_ can't get past it..."

It was then that Pyro noticed the silver laced delicately along Dr Reyes's arms and upper body, even extending up to her neck. It was metal wire – maybe iron – and it looked like strange veins protruding from her skin. "Hey, what the hell is that? On your skin?"

"This is a type of performance enhancer, temporarily strengthening the 'X-genes' in a mutant's body. It amplifies their mutation. In this case – my energy shield," she explained. "That's how I got it to surround the building. I'd clarify how it works, but I don't have time."

Pyro shrugged. "All you had to say was that it turns any mutation into one powerful mother-fucker."

"Yes, well... we can't all be as eloquent as you."

Pyro gave a sharp laugh as Dr Reyes turned away to work on the time release, certain that she was hiding a smile as well.

* * *

Fox approached Nightcrawler in confident strides, Iceman a step behind her.

"Remember, Iceman, you just concentrate on locating and destroying the Fatalite capsule. Nightcrawler and Fox, your objective is to defend Iceman from Brotherhood attackers. And _nobody_ is to separate or go seeking out Brotherhood members to pick a fight, under any circumstances. You listening, Fox? Avoid them altogether if you can. I want this as quick and uncomplicated as possible. In and out, understand?"

"Ya."

"You got it."

"Sure."

Nightcrawler reached out to both teenagers linking one blue arm with Iceman's, and wrapping the other around Fox. "Now, both of you will be holdin' on to me," he instructed. Iceman and Fox quickly obeyed, looping their own arms tightly around Nightcrawler. He gave a cough and a suppressed laugh. "Hey, my body requires to breathe at the same time!" Fox and Iceman loosened their grip sheepishly as Nightcrawler received multiple 'Hurry up!' glares from the rest of the X-Men. "Ok, ok, we are going! Hold on."

_Bamf! _

A few seconds later and the trio were inside the Senate building, the two teenagers slightly shaken and Nightcrawler slightly lost.

"Ah... so, one of you has been in here before, yes?" Nightcrawler whispered hesitantly, looking about his surroundings. "You know your way around, Iceman?"

"Hold on," Iceman answered weakly, "I think I left my stomach back there somewhere..."

"Come on, get with it," Fox interrupted fiercely, giving Iceman a shove. "We're running outta time, man. We have to find the virus."

The three examined their surroundings tentatively. Nightcrawler had taken them to a darkened lobby – what had used to be the Senate foyer – and it branched off into several different directions. It was eerily similar to a maze.

"Ok... uh, where would it be? What do you guys think?" Fox asked, her voice echoing around the room. The huge lobby made Fox look and feel tiny in comparison, and suddenly the search for the virus seemed doomed to fail.

"I'm betting it's in the centre of the building somewhere," Iceman suggested, waving his arm in a random direction. "If the Brotherhood wants to release the virus so it comes into immediate contact with the hostages, it should be in the middle of the building. You know how the roof juts out around the middle? I think they'd let the virus loose through there, that way it would spray onto the crowd and infect them. So we should head to the centre."

Nightcrawler and Fox nodded in agreement.

"Sounds logical, I can think of nothing better," Nightcrawler agreed.

"Yeah ok, we'll go with that. Oh hey, let's split up!" Fox exclaimed adventurously. "We'll cover more ground and-"

"_No, Fox!_"

* * *

Of all the members of the Brotherhood, being alone with Dr Reyes was the most awkward for Pyro. She was silent, she was brooding and she was introverted. She didn't know how to handle Pyro's teasing and practical jokes, and it was clear from his last encounter with Dr Reyes that she also harboured severe psychological problems that he'd rather not get into again. Ever. So while Magneto and Mystique went their separate ways – probably to guard other areas of the building – Pyro hovered around uncomfortably as Dr Reyes tampered with the time release and the Fatalite capsule.

He sighed in exasperation and sheer boredom, briefly wishing he had his Zippo lighter to fiddle with. Finally the silence got on his nerves again, so once more Pyro tried to initiate conversation, to fill the air with words instead of ill-at-ease calm. "So, Doc, have you ever killed anyone before?"

It was a ludicrous question, and Pyro had no idea why it had jumped out of his mouth, but he was curious as to how Dr Reyes would react. The doctor's dark eyes snapped upwards and narrowed, as if she couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. For a moment her expression was completely indecipherable, and Pyro wondered if he had just kicked off another emotional outburst, then she glanced back down at her hands.

"No," she replied quietly, refusing to meet Pyro's confident stare. "I haven't."

He nodded in acknowledgement, then Dr Reyes spoke again. "Have _you_?"

A wave of regret involuntarily washed from Pyro's heart through his veins. His mind momentarily flashed back to a time when the rage inside him was ignited, like it had been today, and he had killed people in a fit of fury using his control over flames. He'd murdered them, burned them alive... he could still picture the woman's terrified face as he launched a jet of flames towards her... those screams...

"Yeah," Pyro replied smoothly, leaning back against a bench. "Once or twice. They were humans. It was nothing." He ignored the remorse that gnawed away inside him, and allowed the screaming he could hear in his mind to recede into the distance.

"It was nothing?" Cecilia Reyes repeated, raising an eyebrow. "So that's what Magneto sees in you. That blind, murderous hate. I always thought he just kept you around 'cos of your handy mutation. Being a pyrokinetic is a powerful thing, you know." Dr Reyes's face suddenly changed from serious to delighted, grinning hugely. "There! I did it!" she exclaimed.

"Did what?"

"I reprogrammed the time release. It'll detonate in about half an hour now."

Pyro wasn't sure how to react. "Oh... ok, uh, cool. Good work. So what do we do?"

"Wait. The program does everything else. We just wait."

_Oh, great_, he thought. Suddenly the doctor doubled over, inhaling sharply. "Hey, you ok Doc?"

Her breathing was unsteady and rapid, her head lowered to the ground, her hands clutching her stomach.

"Dr Reyes?"

Slowly, Dr Cecilia Reyes looked up at Pyro, and as she did so he caught sight of the crimson fluid dripping slowly from the rims of her eyes and down her cheeks, like scarlet tears.

Blood.

"Jesus Christ! _Cecilia_?" Pyro sprinted to her side, seizing her shoulders and forcing her to look into his eyes. The blood seemed to be coming from ruptured veins inside her eyes and it now fell in torrents, coating the doctor's face and even making it into the corners of her mouth. Her lips were now stained a bright red, her cheeks glittered with blood, and her eyes gave off the dull hue of the dying.

"Cecilia! What's happening? Tell me how to help you! You're the doctor! C'mon Cecilia, what's _wrong_? Talk to me! Please!"

Cecilia Reyes's teeth chattered loudly, and she looked around in confusion, as if she were disorientated. Then her blood-stained eyes met Pyro's. "It's the bacteria."

"What?"

"I... tested the virus on myself, remember? It didn't do any harm at first... but I infected my bloodstream with many forms of the virus, all different types. And they've all had a... an incubation period. Oh, God... I didn't even consider... oh, my God. Now my body is... rejecting one of the bacteria. It's affecting my immune system."

"It's the _virus_? That's what's making you sick?" Her eyes gave him the answer. "That means it _does _affect mutants,doesn't it? _Doesn't it? _Holy _shit!_ Now it's affecting you, and _you're dying!_" he shouted hysterically.

The doctor gave a soft sob, her body now shaking uncontrollably. Pyro clutched her tighter in desperation. "You have to shut down the time release! If Fatalite affects mutants as well, we can't do this! _Listen to me!_ Cecilia? Dr Reyes, can you hear me?"

Blood started seeping from the skin pores of Dr Reyes's neck and arms. She shuddered, gave several abrupt coughs as if she were choking, and then suddenly blood spurted from her mouth as well. "Help me..." she whimpered meekly, tears and blood swirling down her face.

"Oh... Jesus... _Christ! Shit! _How do I help you? Tell me how! You have an antidote, right? _Doctor! _Please, talk to me! Cecilia! Look at me!"

She was still breathing, but now blood was ravaging every part of her body, staining her delicate white coat and her brown skin. Dr Reyes slumped backward, her breathing growing sharp and laboured, blood dripping from her forehead. There was so much blood!

"_Pyro_," a sharp voice sliced across the air. "What in God's name is going on in here?" Magneto entered the room, stopping suddenly at the sight of Dr Reyes covered with blood, and Pyro gripping her shoulders.

"She's dying!" Pyro shouted in desperation. "You have to do something! It's the virus, it's _killing her!_"

"What?" Magneto repeated in disbelief, making his way closer to the doctor. "The virus? Impossible. It doesn't affect mutants!"

"Yes, it does! What the fuck do you think?" Pyro argued angrily. "Look at her! You think it's a coincidence that one day she's testing biological weapons on herself and the next she's _covered in blood? _You have to shut down the time release!" Magneto didn't appear to be leaping into action, which angered Pyro further. "Well? Do it!"

The master of magnetic fields analysed the situation carefully, then lifted a hand into the air. Before Pyro knew what was happening a metal sheath dislodged from the wall, wrapping itself around him and pulling him away from the doctor.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed in annoyance, struggling against the metal that now completely enveloped him. "Magneto!"

Another flick of the wrist, and Pyro was trapped against the wall, imprisoned by the metal segments which curled even tighter around him. Pyro struggled feebly but it was useless. There was no escaping iron.

Looking over at Dr Reyes, Pyro saw that she too had been restrained with sheaths of metal, and she now lay motionless as the metal bent and coiled like a boa constrictor, imprisoning her as well.

"Magneto, _what are you doing?_" Pyro demanded, thrashing vainly against his metal confines.

Magneto walked forward, tall, powerful and imposing, giving Pyro an overwhelming sense of who was in control. He examined the virus capsule, and said calmly, "We will go ahead as planned."

"No, you can't! You have to help Cecilia! She's going to _die!_" Pyro yelled, now feeling as helpless as a toddler strapped inside a pram. "That virus will kill mutants as well, Magneto! Don't you get it? You have to shut it down! _Magneto!_"

The controller of magnetic fields stood unmoving, seemingly indifferent to the dying doctor and Pyro's shouts.

"There is a chance that it won't. The doctor exposed herself to numerous dangerous chemicals, Pyro. It may not be a Fatalite spore she's reacting to. And we will not call off the mission now."

Pyro frowned but didn't speak, gritting his teeth in frustration and anger. He looked elsewhere, wishing for his lighter more than ever before. "Magneto let me go, for God's sake!"

"You and the doctor must be restrained until the mission is complete. I can't risk either of you destroying the capsule," Magneto replied with a tone of determined finality. "The virus will detonate in half an hour. If it does affect mutants, we'll find out the hard way. If it doesn't, then say good-bye to humanity."


	13. Final Battle

"No, I think we should go back that way. Let's go back."

"Nein, nein, _this_ passage leads to the centre, you see? Keep going ahead..."

"Maybe we should turn right here, then. This hall looks kind of important."

"Yeah!"

"_No_, straight ahead, I say!"

Fox halted mid-step, swinging around on her heel and throwing her hands up in the air.

"For God's sake, this is hopeless! This place is a maze, the clock is ticking, and nobody knows where to go! Let's split up, at least we can work faster that way."

"No," Nightcrawler replied firmly, "It's too dangerous for us to be separated. We're a team, we must work together."

"But we're wasting-" Fox stopped herself in the middle of her argument when she saw the surprisingly stern look in Nightcrawler's eyes.

"We work _together_."

Fox looked at the ground, half-stubborn, half-embarrassed. Iceman looked between Nightcrawler and Fox uncertainly, and Nightcrawler remained firm and unyielding, his tail waving back and forth in an almost scolding manner.

"Ok," Fox said finally, "Well, we need a plan."

Nightcrawler grinned. "You want to work faster, no?"

"No... uh, I mean, yes. We're probably nowhere near the virus."

"Right," Nightcrawler replied, holding out one arm towards Iceman, and one towards Fox. "So, we need to take the express."

The girl's face broke into a grin as she attached herself to Nightcrawler, despite Iceman's groans. "This teleporting thing really messes up my insides!" Iceman exclaimed in protest.

"Just hold on!"

_Bamf_!

They were at the end of the hall. The door straight ahead led to an abandoned group of office cubicle.

"No, let's go back," Fox said.

"Back," Nightcrawler repeated.

_Bamf!_

They were inside a second corridor, dimly lit, which branched off in three directions.

"Left," Iceman suggested.

"Alright, left," Nightcrawler said again.

_Bamf!_

Now they were inside a carpeted, narrow hall. It must have been open to members of the public, as it was decorated lavishly with oil paintings and plants. Ahead, lighting could be seen.

"That way," Fox exclaimed, pointing.

_Bamf!_

"I'm getting dizzy, man!" Iceman moaned, but silenced himself when he saw where they had landed.

"I don't think this was part of the old building," Fox commented slowly.

They were standing in a vestibule-like room, although it was located further towards the centre of the building. It had been hollowed out recently to enlarge the area, and plaster was scattered along the ground from where it had crumbled from the walls. Everything else had practically been destroyed. Presumably, Magneto or another Brotherhood member was responsible for this. It was entirely empty, except for one object.

In the centre of the room stood a long, metallic tube.

"The virus?" Iceman asked hesitantly.

He, Fox and Nightcrawler approached carefully, as if a bomb was about to explode.

"Maybe," Fox replied, eyes narrowed. "But this is _way_ too easy."

Iceman stopped directly in front of the tube, examining it closely. "I can't tell what's inside. And I'm sure as hell not opening it. This has to be the virus... right?"

"No, I think it's something else," Fox argued, but both X-Men caught the uncertainty in her voice. "A trick, maybe. If it was the _real_ virus, someone would be guarding it, wouldn't they?"

Nightcrawler's face was creased in thought. "A decoy?"

"That's what I was thinkin'." Fox quickly glanced about her in search of Brotherhood mutants, but the trio were alone in the room. "No-one's here. But if this is a trap..."

"We'll have to risk it," Iceman said firmly. "It could be the virus, or some other weapon. Besides, the Brotherhood might not have even expected us to get this far, so there wouldn't be any real reason for them to guard the capsule 24/7. I'll freeze it right now, what have we got to lose?"

He got no argument from Fox and Nightcrawler, but both were eyeing the capsule with doubt and mistrust.

As if testing it to make sure nothing hazardous would happen, Iceman carefully raised his hand and only sent a small stream of frost across the capsule, coating it lightly. After a moment Iceman's confidence grew and he quickly froze the entire capsule, the creaking of the metal contracting and the crackling of the ice echoing around the room with a loud crack.

The capsule now stood smothered in ice, and Iceman grasped it, raising the tube carefully from the ground. After a second's consideration, Iceman lifted it high over his head and hurled it to the ground. The capsule shattered against the cold floor in a loud, explosive _smash_! Shards of ice and fragments of metal scattered everywhere, while the three X-Men winced at the noise of the impact.

"There," Iceman said as the reverberations of shattered ice and metal receded, "It's destroyed."

"But how can we be sure that it was the virus?" Nightcrawler pointed out.

"Let's just get outta here," Fox replied, considerably on edge, "The whole building would've heard that!"

Nightcrawler, Fox and Iceman turned towards the exit, when suddenly the room creaked and shook, causing the trio to freeze.

"Earthquake!" Iceman yelped.

The room contracted and bulged as if it were breathing, then a sheath of metal dislodged from the rooftop and plummeted towards the three, threatening to crush them all.

"_Look out!"_

Fox's survival instinct took over. She grabbed Iceman and sprinted away from the falling sheath of metal, using her super-speed to push him away from danger. Kurt teleported easily to safety, and all three ended up trapped in the north corner of the room, away from the exit.

With a grand sweep, Magneto entered the room, tall and imposing, arms outstretched in like a deity. Despite having established him as an enemy, Fox couldn't help feeling in awe of Magneto's impressive demeanour. Suddenly all three X-Men caught their breath as they realised the same thing – Magneto had coated the inside of the entire Senate building with metal. The ceilings, the walls, even some of the walkways were lined with enormous sheaths of iron. Magneto had power over the whole structure, which meant now they were almost under his complete control, and he could crush them or do as he pleased. Fox cursed herself for not having noticed this before, when Magneto spoke.

"Ah, so some of you did manage to infiltrate our good doctor's shield," he remarked, studying the three. His eyes fell on Kurt, instantly recognising the mutant. "Teleportation, no doubt. But no matter–" The room shuddered again, and the metal covering the walls contracted, giving the impression that the room was shrinking. "Fatalite will be released into the population in half an hour, despite your vaguely impressive attempts to put a stop to this."

"So that _wasn't_ the virus," Fox said, giving Iceman a quick sideways glare. "Told ya."

Iceman groaned inwardly as Magneto gave an amused chuckle. "Do you _really_ think I would have made it that easy?"

Nightcrawler sensed it was time to stall the Brotherhood leader. "Magneto," he began, his German accent giving him the same sense of refinement that Magneto possessed. "You must think about what it is you are doing. All those people, _innocents_, they are going to _die_! Surely, you-"

Magneto cut the teleporter off with an abrupt flick of his hand. "The ethics I do not wish to discuss," he snapped, "Don't you realise, that if they were given the same opportunity, they'd slaughter every one of _us_, like cattle? Already they're working on tracking down every mutant alive with their foolish Registration Act. Tell me, what do you suppose is the purpose of this law, hmm?"

Iceman, Fox and Nightcrawler guessed the question was rhetorical, and didn't respond, waiting for Magneto to continue.

"To _obliterate_ mutant-kind!" he declared, voice thunderous. "We can never co-exist with humans – they are finding ways to persecute us as we speak. If you are going to stand by and let those worthless _homo sapiens_ kill us all off, then it is up to me to make sure that never happens. And to ensure _that_, I have to strike first, biologically if I must. For the greater good of our kind."

Fox glared daggers at Magneto, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "The _greater good_?" she repeated, voice growing louder and angrier with each word. "Bullshit! You're a terrorist and a murderer! Don't you see that by going through with this, you're no better than they are? You're sinking to their level!"

"Silence," Magneto hissed, anger rising in his flushed face. Fox took a step forward but Nightcrawler and Iceman each placed a hand on her shoulders, gripping her firmly to ensure she wouldn't resort to letting her fists fly. Magneto's eyes furrowed, studying Fox in almost amused thought. "You're a new face to the X-Men, child, but I do know you. You're the little girl from the chemical research centre, aren't you?"

Fox visibly bristled at being called 'child' and a 'little girl', but managed to reply in an exaggeratedly calm tone. "That's me."

"And a self-righteous one at that," he commented, a wry smile spreading across his face. "Full of indignation – typical teenagers. But regardless–" Magneto outstretched his arms once again and the wall behind the trio lurched forward, dangerously close, "It's time for you all to learn first-hand the price you pay for getting in my way."

"Ach... maybe some other time!" Nightcrawler exclaimed. He seized Fox and Iceman and teleported to safety moments before shards of metal sliced through the air.

In the hall directly outside the room, Fox, Nightcrawler and Iceman sprinted as the passageways began to shudder and shake under Magneto's control. The arch directly in their path suddenly dislodged from the walls, and gave a groan as it fell, as if in slow motion, straight into the trio's direction. Fox opted to outrun the falling arch, using her hyper-speed to sprint quickly beneath the archway seconds before it collapsed onto the ground. Nightcrawler teleported Iceman safely to the other side, and continued their escape.

"What do we do now?" Iceman asked, inhaling and exhaling sharply out of exertion.

"We have to find the virus!" Fox replied, swerving to her right to dodge a falling block of iron. "We're running out of time, he said it was gonna detonate in half an hour!"

"It is not that simple now," Nightcrawler answered, grabbing hold of both Fox and Iceman and teleporting to a different wing of the Senate altogether as three metal poles came crashing down. Now in the west wing, this corridor was dark and empty, and Magneto didn't seem to have realised that they had now teleported far away from his magnetic wrath. Everything was bathed in darkness and an eerie silence.

"As I was saying," Nightcrawler continued, in a much calmer voice as Iceman and Fox both struggled to catch their breath,"things have complicated. Now they know we are here. The virus will be heavily guarded without a doubt. And I dare say the Brotherhood will not be planning on making our stay a pleasant one."

"Maybe we need reinforcements," Iceman suggested. "We can get Cyclops' help-"

"No!" Fox shouted, quickly silencing the other two. "We need to act _now_! There are lives at stake! What's wrong with you guys? We can beat this stupid time-release!" Fox gave Nightcrawler a light shove. "Nightcrawler: do the super-teleporting-thing. We'll cover the whole Senate if we have too. Iceman: go with him; get ready to freeze-dry _any_ Brotherhood mutant you see – especially Magneto. I don't care who they are; if they're there, no chatting, no stalling – _we attack_. We've wasted a shit-load of time. It's time to play their game."

Iceman, who usually hated it when Fox got all bossy and domineering, gave an amused grin in spite of himself. "And what's your part in all of this, Miss Leader?"

"Shut up. I'll use my speed to search the place."

"Alone?" Nightcrawler questioned, apprehension rising in his voice.

"Yes. It works better alone."

"Dakota, you must learn what it is to trust your team," was his enigmatic reply.

"Trust isn't the issue here," she replied, "Time is. I can outrun anything the Brotherhood can dish. Together you and Iceman are good to take any other mutant on. We'll cut time in half if I search the west side, and you search the east side."

"But we have no means of communication with you if we separate," Iceman pointed out, "If you run into trouble, or even if you find the virus, you can't contact us. And we can't contact you. That's the problem."

Fox paused. She hadn't even thought of that problem. Nightcrawler and Iceman waited for her to continue, brows raised. Hesitantly, she said, "I guess it's a chance we have to take. Finding the virus is more important than anything else right now. If you two find it first that's easy – Iceman can destroy it straight away and then you can come and find me. If I find the virus first, I'll have to try to disarm, disconnect or destroy it in any way I can. If that doesn't work, I'll either bring the capsule to you guys, or find you and tell you where the virus is. Using my speed of course. That's the best I can come up with."

Nightcrawler still looked uneasy about Fox's determination to split up, but she did have a point about running out of time. The choice lay with him as both Iceman and Fox looked at the senior X-Man questioningly.

"Alright," Nightcrawler said finally. "I do not like this. But we'll do it."

* * *

A cloud of stifling brimstone and the unmistakeable smell of sulphur was all that remained of Nightcrawler and Iceman. Fox turned around and began her own search. Reaching the end of the hall, she noticed a worn sign indicating where the fork in the corridor led to.

The arrow pointing left had _Maintenance and Repairs Personnel_ neatly printed above it. The corresponding hall was dark and empty, and did not look promising. The arrow pointing right displayed _Security office 4_ stamped above it in bold, black lettering.

Fox chose the latter and headed right, entering her super speed.

* * *

Pyro's throat burned from five minutes of non-stop yelling, shouting and swearing, his voice echoing around the room as he struggled against the iron bars wrapped firmly like vines around his body. But to no avail; nobody heeded his calls, and Pyro remained trapped. He groaned, and chose that moment to glance over at Dr Reyes. She was unmoving, lying wrapped in metal, in a dark pool of her own blood. For the past ten minutes she had occasionally convulsed or coughed up blood in her unconscious state, but now Dr Reyes was lying absolutely motionless. Pyro could only imagine the worst.

The padding of feet soon caught his attention, and Pyro looked up to see Mystique's graceful form enter the room, every move powerful and seductive. She stopped quickly at the sight of the doctor, golden eyes flickering uncertainly, when Pyro spoke.

"Mystique! Get me outta here!" he called, straining against the metal bonds. The meta-morph cast a fleeting glance in his direction, figured out what had happened, ignored his request, and moved forwards towards the virus capsule.

"Mystique! I said get me out of here!" Pyro yelled, craning his neck to see what she was doing. "What the hell's going on?"

Still Mystique said nothing, and Pyro felt the anger rising in his throat. After pretending to be thoroughly occupied with examining the capsule closely, Mystique finally straightened, and said, "What happened to the doctor?"

Pyro returned her ghostly stare, his eyes giving off sparks of resentment. "She's dead," he stated flatly. "The virus killed her."

The meta-morph showed no response to this, inclining her head slightly to study Dr Reyes's unmoving form. "She's not dead," Mystique answered finally, folding her arms. "She's breathing. Slowly."

"But she's _dying_! That virus is eating away at her!"

"No virus did that," she replied, narrowing her brows in suspicion. "Fatalite doesn't affect mutants. What happened is _you_ attacked her. And Magneto found you."

"_What_?" Pyro spluttered, aghast. "That's bullshit! What the fuck are you talking about?"

Mystique didn't respond, and rested her flexible form back on a bench, when her communication earpiece gave a sudden buzz. She lifted a single hand up to her ear in order to aid her hearing, but Pyro couldn't hear what was being said through the earpiece.

"_Mystique – stay alert. Three hostiles have infiltrated the building. Guard the virus at all times. Repeat, three hostiles."_

Mystique voiced her acknowledgement, then glanced back at Pyro, rekindling their argument.

"It was obvious you hated Cecilia. But we'll deal with this later. The virus will be released soon, and I'm staying here to make sure it all goes to plan."

"But-" Pyro's mouth froze mid-retort. It was useless arguing that he didn't hate Cecilia, and had no reason for attacking her, as Mystique was sure not to take him seriously while he was wrapped in a multitude of metal coils. It was useless claiming that Fatalite affected mutants also, since Mystique was too loyal to Magneto to derail any of his schemes, and she clearly wouldn't consider disarming the virus capsule. And even if Mystique had _wanted_ to free Pyro from his metal constraints, she had no way of doing so. The iron was too thick, too tight and too strong. He would just have to sit and wait.

The situation pissed him off no end.

* * *

Twelve halls later, Fox drew to a halt, having completely drawn a blank. Her patience quota for the day by now was well-exceeded. _Dammit, how many rooms does this place have?_ She briefly wondered how Nightcrawler and Iceman were doing, when her eyes caught a flicker of movement in the reflection of a glass window.

Turning her head sharply to her right, she realised it wasn't the movement of a Brotherhood mutant preparing to launch an attack, but a flash of light radiating from further down the corridor she was currently standing in. The pattern of light was consistent with that of somebody opening a door leading into broad daylight and quickly closing it again, it appeared and disappeared so quickly. Fox narrowed her eyes. _That door just moved._

Fox sprinted in the same direction, reaching the door that had just quietly clicked shut. It was a plain door, and showed no sign of having political, security or strategic importance. After examining it doubtfully, wondering if she had just imagined the flicker of movement, Fox cautiously turned the handle clockwise.

She winced as the door gave a telltale creak, swinging open slowly to reveal a large, lit room. Suddenly Fox froze as she recognised Pyro and Dr Reyes, trapped on opposite sides of the room, within twisted coils of iron. _Magneto_. Her mind snapped into instant focus, and Fox silently stepped inside the room.

Pyro's eyes widened and he sat up straighter once he recognised Fox, realising that she must have come alone to stop the time-release. How she even got inside the energy shield, Pyro couldn't begin to comprehend. What he did know, as he looked from Fox to Mystique – who appeared not to have noticed Fox's arrival – was that Fox was about to attack, and he didn't know whose side to take. Furthermore, it was likely one would seriously wound the other, and Pyro had no way of intervening.

Fox studied Mystique's blue, slender form in suspicion, unsure of how to handle this situation. The meta-morph had her back to Fox, but must have sensed the teenager's presence, judging by the sudden stiffening of her scaled back. Fox's eyes quickly darted about the room in search of other potential opponents. Pyro was conscious but trapped and of no threat, Dr Reyes was unconscious and... _covered in blood?_ And Magneto still hadn't returned to the scene, which left only Mystique.

Fox could just make out a glimmer of silver – a capsule – which Mystique appeared to be tampering with. _The virus,_ a voice screamed in her mind. _I have to distract Mystique somehow. Shouldn't be hard.  
_  
"Yo!" Fox called out, holding every muscle taut, readying herself for battle, "Blue girl! Drop the virus!"

Mystique stood motionless for some time, giving Fox the opportunity to close the gap between them. Despite herself, Fox felt a nervous tremor run through her body – Mystique was a formidable opponent, and Fox couldn't be sure of what she was capable of, or how to take her on.

"I said: stop what you're doing!" Fox shouted, clenching her fists. "Get away from the virus!"

Mystique tilted her head slightly to peer over her shoulder and study Fox, the traces of a sinister smile beginning to show on her face. Suddenly she whirled around, morphing shape so suddenly that Fox was taken aback.

And standing in front of Fox, in Mystique's place, was her own dead mother.

All oxygen departed Fox's lungs, her heart lurched and the colour drained from her face. _Impossible!_ her heart screamed. _It's a trick! Get a grip!_

But this image of Rebecca Fitzgerald was exactly how Fox remembered her – tall, slim, tangled masses of long, dark hair falling in waves about her shoulders. And she had the same dark eyes as Fox. Fox felt her body begin to tremble, and she fought to maintain control of the situation.

Mystique stepped forward delicately, hips swaying, her full lips stretching into the smile Fox had missed so much. "Dakota," she called in a haunting, melodic voice, inwardly delighting at Fox's reaction.

Fox averted her eyes, focusing her vision on her left hand which was gripping the leather of her uniform. "Stop it," she hissed, not allowing the tears to form in her eyes.

Mystique cocked her head in a tormenting, teasing manner, causing the image of Fox's mother to do the same. "I've missed you so much, my child," she declared, "So much. Look at me."

Fox reluctantly met her 'mother's' gaze, her brows knitting together in a mixture of confusion, grief, and hatred.

"It's not real," Fox murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "You're _not real_!"

But her heart, mind and soul _wanted_ it to be real. She longed to hear her mother's voice, feel her mother's touch. A part of Fox wanted this delusion to be real so badly, that she was starting to believe it. Fox began to hyperventilate, sweat breaking out from the pores of her skin.

The mirage took another step forward, running a hand gracefully through its rich locks of hair. "I've always regretted leaving you, Dakota. I should have known that nothing was worth coming between me and–" she gave a dramatic pause, eyes staring into Fox's. "My daughter. But now I'm back. And I've come to take you with me."

Waves of long-repressed anguish, anxiety, uncertainty and pain, one after the other, pulsed throughout Fox's body. She felt herself weakening, and found herself unable to move, unable to take her eyes off the image of her mother. She was saying everything Fox had ever wanted to hear, and this emotion was overriding every other mental function.

_It's not her, it's not her, it's not her,_ a voice repeated inside her mind over and over again. Fox desperately fought the urge to run into this woman's arms, instead gritting her teeth and stammering, "You – you're not really my mother. You're _not_."

The delusion ignored Fox's words, instead choosing to prey upon the obvious insecurity in the teenager's voice. "Dakota," she called again, eyes now flickering with a golden hue. "Come with me..."

Pyro watched as Mystique stepped closer to Fox, who was now within striking range. _Come on Fox_, he thought desperately, _Get a hold of yourself. She's almost got you._

Mystique smiled again, and this time raised a gentle arm, almost to touch Fox's face. "My daughter," she said almost triumphantly, as though sealing Fox's fate.

Somehow, those two words yanked Fox abruptly into reality, and she slapped away her mother's arm. A deep, inferno of rage clawed its way from Fox's heart, and exploded through her fists.

Fox gave an agonised, furious scream, seizing Mystique, and using her super-speed to throw her right across the room. Mystique hit the wall with such force that she automatically reverted to her true form as she slid to the ground. Blinking and gasping with shock, the meta- morph looked up to see an enraged Fox, who suddenly moved her fists into a defensive position.

"You bitch," Fox snarled, "You'll pay for that."

Mystique couldn't help an amused, ominous smile creeping across her face as she got to her feet. She stood almost casually for a few seconds, then launched her first attack, flipping through the air to sink her feet into Fox's face.

Fox was too swift; she dodged this attack easily and spun around on one leg to bring the other crashing across Mystique's neck. The kick caught the meta-morph, and she stumbled backward. Fox was already diving forward, and performed another spin-and-strike move, this time her elbow connecting with Mystique's face.

Mystique managed to skilfully flip away from Fox's striking range, and quickly reassessed the teenager. Mystique had made the mistake of underestimating Fox, and Fox knew it. In order to bring down the girl, Mystique had to change her mode of attack. She quickly decided to go with complicated, flying moves that Fox would be unable to block or counter attack.

Running forward, Mystique felt a weightless sensation as she launched her body into the air, suddenly twisting around in such a way that her leg was sure slam into Fox's shoulder at an incredible speed. Fox dodged once more, and used Mystique's momentum to try and throw her to the ground again. Catching hold of her waist, Fox tried to give Mystique a brutal shove towards a nearby bench. This time however, Mystique was ready; she bent her body backward and brought her fist flying around in a wide arc that Fox was forced to avoid.

Fox released her hold on Mystique – as the meta-morph was sure to overpower her – and instead tried to land a crescent kick across her face. Mystique spun away once again, and kept Fox at a distance.

"Not fast enough," Mystique quipped, playing for time.

"You don't know what fast _is_," was Fox's indignant reply, before entering super-speed and a full-scale attack.

This time, Mystique couldn't react fast enough to Fox's attack, and the teenager was now spinning, striking, kicking, blocking, punching... all in hyper-speed. Mystique reeled helplessly against the bolt of light, before hitting the ground again, this time throbbing with pain. The meta-morph looked up in fury as Fox gradually returned to her normal state, her eyes sparking with hatred.

Slowly, Mystique got to her feet again, this time delicately placing on hand on her hip, while the other explored her mouth to make sure no blood was dripping. She gave Fox an evil – yet eerily seductive – smirk, tucking part of her blue lip beneath a tooth almost tauntingly. "Putting up a bit of a fight?"

"That's not the half of it," Fox replied, some of her haughty overconfidence now returning.

Suddenly, the metal capsule holding the virus gave a series of clicks, and a slid quarter of the way up a long, tube-like device. Fox turned her head sharply to the source of the noise, and realised that 25 of the half-hour time release had now elapsed. Mystique had been merely stalling her. _And she was running out of time._

Mystique used the distraction to attack once again, this time at close range. Lunging forward, Mystique let her fist fly, and Fox countered the initial attack. But she realised Mystique's intentions too late, and Mystique grabbed Fox's arms and twisted them into a painful lock.

Fox gave a furious scream and struggled vainly against the blue meta- morph, but to no avail. She felt an agonising crunch as Mystique's knee made contact with her ribcage, and gave another cry as Mystique twisted her arms painfully, yanking the teenager around so her back was pressed against Mystique's upper body. Mystique leaned closer to Fox, her mouth against her ear.

"Game over," she announced evilly, blue lips curling into a menacing grin.

Suddenly a shout echoed around the room, catching both Fox and Mystique off guard.

"_Mystique_!" Pyro yelled, his voice sharp enough to slice through steel.

Diverted, Mystique loosened her hold on Fox and spun her head around, realising only too late that it was a trick. Fox didn't waste the opportunity, and seized hold of Mystique. Using her super-speed, Fox sprinted forward, carrying the shape-shifter with her, reaching her maximum speed before using the momentum to throw Mystique clear through a wall.

Mystique screamed as she collided with the iron wall, the force of the impact surely breaking bones, and her body flew right through the metal barricade into the neighbouring room. From here, the meta-morph lay still, and after a moment's contemplation, Fox abandoned her, running to Pyro's side.

Pyro gave her a weak grin, but was unable to move. Fox studied the thick metal coils that imprisoned his body, before kneeling beside him. Grabbing hold of the first coil she could reach, Fox pulled and strained with all her might. However the iron was far too thick, and held strong. She couldn't free the boy who had just helped her win the fight of her life.

She gritted her teeth in determination, and Pyro watched as Fox slowly enveloped herself in light, and entered her hyper-speed. Using the drive of her speed, Fox wrenched at the coil furiously, not stopping until she finally managed to loosen it. Just.

This process was going to take too long, and she didn't have time. She had been able to reduce some of Pyro's discomfort, but he was still trapped. Instead Fox let go of the iron, reaching forward to touch Pyro's face gently. "I can't get you out," she admitted, "But... thanks."

Pyro raised an eyebrow, saying, "What, you going all mushy on me? Just go trash that freaking virus. I can handle this."

Fox grinned, followed Pyro's advice and headed towards the virus capsule.

The capsule was undoubtedly active; clicking, buzzing and whirring every minute or so, and making its gradual ascent up the long, metal tube. _A navigator,_ she recognised. Through an opaque glass window, Fox could almost see the clear blue fluid housed inside: the liquid form of Fatalite. Fox craned her neck to see where the navigating tube led, and saw that its path led up the wall and through the roof, most likely designed to coincide the capsule's detonation with reaching open air.

"Ok..." Fox muttered, unsure of how to disarm the virus. Her eyes scanned the contraption, and noticed cables which connected the capsule to the navigator tube. Quick as lightning, Fox grabbed hold of the cables, yanking them free.

Now disconnected, the capsule slipped from the tube, and Fox was able to remove it with no trouble. Having sabotaging the navigator, Fox knew that now the civilians outside were out of immediate danger, at least for the meantime.

She cradled the capsule in her arms for a moment, unsure of what to do next, when she released the time release was still active. It was clicking at a steady pace, and gave no indication of stopping. Fox studied the capsule closer. The time release had been inbuilt, which meant the only way to stop it was to either deactivate the program – for which you needed the right codes – or to destroy the capsule, which Fox had no means of doing. _It's still gonna detonate. Shit._

Pyro struggled against his bonds while watching Fox's progress. Since she had managed to loosen the uppermost coil, Pyro had worked out that if he strained hard enough, he could squirm free. It was a slow process. Suddenly his eyes glimpsed movement from the doorway.

Fox recoiled, and reflexively dropped to the ground, sensing an attack from behind. A metallic object flew by her head, missing by inches, and she rolled over to avoid another projectile. The capsule she was clutching started quivering, and despite Fox's efforts to hold onto it, an unseen force yanked it from her arms.

Lying on the ground, she didn't need to look up to know who was responsible, but Fox did anyway. Magneto loomed in the doorway, the capsule levitating in front of him. Slowly, Magneto stepped inside the room and approached Fox, as the teenager got to her feet.

"Given your friends the slip?" he enquired, bringing the capsule's levitation to a sudden halt. Fox watched as the capsule dropped into Magneto's arms, her mind going over various ways she could get it back.

_Snatch it and run,_ she thought. _Just take it and run!_ But to Fox's dismay, she realised that Magneto had sealed the room shut, having coated the door in that now-familiar iron and sealed the section of the wall she had demolished using Mystique as a projectile. Even if Fox worked up enough momentum through her super-speed to burst through that door, she'd unquestionably do herself injury.

If there ever was a time to stall the Brotherhood leader, now was it.

"Wait," she barked, reaching an arm out towards Magneto. _Come on Nightcrawler, Iceman. I need you guys.  
_  
Magneto drifted forward, floating mere centimetres from the ground, supporting the capsule in one arm. "No, young one, I've done my share of waiting for a lifetime. I've been waiting for this moment since before you were born. I've been waiting since I was torn from my parents, since I was nearly starved to death, since I was imprisoned and beaten... So you see, I've grown rather impatient. And now, the only thing that stands between me and an unimaginably glorious defeat of humanity... is yourself."

Fox narrowed her eyes, bringing her fists to her side.

"Inexperienced, careless, worn out. And, _in my way_."

The sound of metal groaning from overhead reached Fox's ears, but she did not react, only casually flitting her eyes upwards to the source of the sound. _C'mon Nightcrawler, Iceman. Help!  
_  
"You can't do this," she argued feebly. "Releasing a virus won't make life better for mutants."

"And what do you know of life?" was Magneto's sardonic reply. "You couldn't be older than sixteen or seventeen, and until now you've been sheltered from real life, in a _school_. But not a school that teaches you about life, no, but about _hiding_, and _protecting humans_." He gave a theatrical pause, and met Fox's gaze firmly. "Yet, having got thus far, I will admit you do have potential. I like to give all young mutants a chance at prosperity, no matter how misguided or uneducated. I'll give you a choice. You can join our cause – the right side – and I can offer you a _real_ taste of the world. Or, you can stay there, standing foolishly in my way."

Fox's facial expression was indecipherable, and her gaze on Magneto turned so concentrated that he almost felt the urge to look away. Finally, she raised her chin into the air, and her lips parted. "You know, I think I'll stay right here. Thanks."

Magneto raised his brows and lifted a steady arm, inclining his head slightly to the right. "As you wish."

Metal shrapnel sliced through the air, raining like silver bullets, only longer, sharper, and more brutal. Fox had no choice. Once again she entered super-speed, and feeling the world around her slow down, she managed to dodge most of the shrapnel. Magneto concentrated his projectiles on the streak of light, but it was moving at too fast a speed to be struck.

He needed a greater method of attack, one that couldn't be avoided so easily. Concentrating on the rooftop above, Magneto stepped backward, outstretching his arms like a deity. An iron scabbard groaned and heaved, then with a sudden flick of Magneto's wrist, dislodged. The enormous metal sheath hurtled from the roof, its overwhelming weight landing with a _crunch_ on the ground below.

As the dust settled and the aftershock ended, Magneto slowly scanned the room. The girl was nowhere to be seen. After a moment, Magneto was satisfied she had been... eliminated... and he strode forward.

A blow to the back of his head sent the elder man flying to the ground, while a kick to his chest propelled the virus capsule across the floor, out of Magneto's reach. Magneto raised an arm to retaliate, using the virus capsule as a weapon against his attacker. The capsule took to the air, careering towards Fox and only just missing her.

Fox – in the middle of aiming another kick towards Magneto – all of a sudden froze, a hot, gruelling sensation unexpectedly overwhelming her. Pupils dilating, Fox swayed unsteadily, her breathing suddenly becoming erratic, laboured and sharp. Without warning, her muscles began to convulse rapidly, while her internal organs gave an agonizing pulsating sensation...

_Oh God, please no,_ she thought desperately, the feeling very familiar. _Not now. No!_

Magneto immediately halted his attack, eying the teenager curiously.

_Can't breathe_... Fox tried her best to slide to the ground gracefully, but found she was no longer in control of her body. Her knees buckled as her leg muscles jarred, and Fox collapsed inelegantly onto her side, trembling and struggling for breath.

The teenager knew all too well what was happening to her – it was a cataplexy. Part of Fox's mutation involved the storage of her vast amount of energy, but at times when she overused her super-speed in too short a time, her body would suddenly collapse, fatigued. Now her muscles were paralysed, and would stay this way until she regained her energy. A wave of dread rose in her throat. Fox had been through enough cataplexies to know there was no use struggling, trying to speak or trying to regain control; she would just have to wait until her body recovered, which could take anything up to ten minutes.

_Not now. Shit, not now!_

Magneto leisurely got to his feet, examining Fox closely, but not seeming to have noticed Pyro who was slowly escaping his metal constraint. The manipulator of metal stood before the fallen figure of Fox, saying, "Well, well, what has happened to you? Prone to fainting?"

Fox of course, could not answer, and could barely even respond to Magneto prodding her lightly with his foot.

"Hmm, she's not so confident now," he remarked, then placed his chin in one hand in a mock gesture of deep thought. "What could be wrong with the child? Asthma, perhaps? No, seems to be more of a paralysis, hmm... Maybe narcolepsy?" He gave a sharp laugh at this, when he suddenly realised the answer.

"You've drained yourself of energy!" he exclaimed, letting out a sinister laugh with each word. "All that zipping around, and now you've worn yourself out. How utterly untimely, don't you think? Well, you're certainly of no threat to me now." Magneto dismissed Fox with a careless flick of his hand, and snatched the virus capsule from the floor.

Slowly, Fox was regaining enough energy to speak. Some muscles – such as a random finger or toe – would twitch now and then, a sign that she was beginning to recover lost energy. Magneto unwittingly bought her enough time to start recuperating, but she needed to delay him further.

"Magneto," she called weakly, "It's over."

The elder man turned his head slightly to peer over his shoulder. "For you, perhaps."

Fox gritted her teeth. _Iceman, Nightcrawler, if there was ever a time to make an entrance, now's it. Please, please, PLEASE come..._

The teenager racked her brains for something distracting to say, and came up with, "The doctor is dead. Which means her shield is down." This caught Magneto's attention, as he twisted his head around to locate Dr Reyes. "The X-Men are on their way. It's all over."

This was an absolute bluff, as Fox had no idea where the other X-Men were – and for all she knew Dr Reyes could still be alive – but in the meantime she had regained enough energy to move her arms. She used them to arduously drag her upper body into an almost upright position. Silently, she prayed for enough time to regain control of her legs...

_BAMF!  
_  
Amid a haze of smoke that appeared, there came a cry of, "Fox!"

Fox felt a tidal wave of relief wash through her body. She had never been so glad to hear a German accent, or smell the sharp scent of sulphur in her life. Out of sheer gratitude, she almost collapsed again as the cloud of brimstone faded away, and from within it appeared Iceman and Nightcrawler.

Acting in unison, Nightcrawler and Iceman attacked with an unbelievable energy and speed. Iceman sprinted forward, raising his arm to send a jet of ice across to Magneto, freezing the capsule and the elder man's arm along with it. Magneto tried to retaliate with metal shrapnel, only to have Iceman vanish in a puff of smoke.

Nightcrawler teleported Iceman to safety, disappearing and reappearing again to deliver a spinning somersault kick mid-air, knocking the frozen capsule out of Magneto's grasp. The capsule didn't shatter, but Nightcrawler was too occupied with Magneto to notice.

Fox began to slide back to the ground and close her eyes again when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, gently pulling her into a sitting position.

"Fox, you ok?" Iceman asked, eyes scanning her body for any signs of injury. "Are you hurt?"

_I'm fine, dammit! Just give me a minute!_

"Talk to me," he persisted, narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out why Fox appeared conscious and uninjured, but nauseous and disorientated at the same time.

_Don't talk,_ a rational voice in her mind insisted. _Just breathe... breathe... breathe..._

"Fox!" Iceman finally yelled, losing his cool.

Fox gritted her teeth, mentally collecting enough energy to control her temper and say the following words, "Ice, I'll be... ok... just get... that virus... _dammit_..."

The capsule gave a warning alarm and a series of clicks, announcing that 50 of the time release had now elapsed. Time was running out – the liquid would soon be turned to air spores. The sudden sound caught Nightcrawler's attention, and his energy redirected from battling Magneto, to retrieving the capsule at all costs. But before the teleporter could seize the capsule, it skidded out of Nightcrawler's reach, as if it were possessed.

Although the metal capsule was coated with ice, Magneto could still control its movements with his free arm. And despite being lightning fast and able to teleport, Nightcrawler was having a tough time catching the capsule as it spun and darted back and forth across the room erratically.

Suddenly feeling a sensation similar to a thousand daggers piercing his feet, Magneto look down and realised that ice was quickly gathering around his legs, forming a cold, solid layer. His feet were now frozen, cemented to the ground, and the ice was travelling up his body fast.

Looking up towards the source of the phenomena, Magneto reacted rapidly and heatedly, sending metal shards flying across the air to slash Iceman's outstretched arms. Iceman instinctively hit the ground beside Fox, dodging most of the shrapnel and reacting just in time to construct a wall of ice in front of their bodies, protecting them from the rest of the airborne metal.

With this as a distraction, Nightcrawler took the opportunity to seize the capsule, teleporting high into the air and hurling it straight to the ground. An explosive _smash_! echoed around the room, causing all action to freeze.

Magneto gave an indecipherable holler as the capsule shattered, fragments of ice, metal, and what had been Fatalite scattering in every direction. Now the bacteria lay in harmless solid shards, never to be revived or transformed into air spores. Each X-Man felt a swell of relief – such a lethal virus wouldn't be unleashed upon the human race today. Perhaps in future there may be similar threats, but for now the public was safe.

Magneto however, didn't share these feelings.

"Do you have any _idea_ of what you've done?" he hollered, struggling against the solid ice coating his legs. "_Why is it that none of you understand what I'm trying to do?_"

Nightcrawler was about to reply when he suddenly all iron fragments in the room became airborne, flying through the air towards him. He dodged swiftly, teleporting to the ground where Iceman still lay, sheltered behind his ice shield.

"It's time to go!" the German announced, "Stall him!"

Iceman did so without a second thought, and retaliated against Magneto's attack with his own weapon: shards of ice.

Pyro – who had amazingly been able to remain unnoticed and unharmed during the battle – suddenly broke free of his restraints, and scrambled to get to his feet. Neither Magneto, Iceman, Fox nor Nightcrawler noticed this, and as the pyretic intuitively searched his pockets for his missing lighter, Magneto and Iceman had engaged in a spectacular battle between shards of iron, and shards of ice.

As the metal shrapnel embedded dangerously deep in Iceman's solid shield, Nightcrawler seized hold of Iceman's torso, and reached out for Fox with his other arm, fingertips grasping the sleeve of her uniform. Fox instinctively closed her eyes as brimstone enveloped the trio, and for an instant she almost felt that familiar, weightless sensation...

A shrill scream exploded from Fox's throat as she was wrenched sharply from Nightcrawler's grip, the force of the yank sending jolting waves of shock throughout her body. Nightcrawler and Iceman disappeared, but Fox was jerked violently backwards, away from the other X-Men.

There was a painful _thud_ as her head hit the marble floor, and slowly the girl became aware of the cold, snake-like iron wrapping like vines around her waist. She was back in the building. Something had gone wrong during teleporting – she felt as if her body had just been torn in two and then quickly put back together again. And now she was slowly being enveloped in coils of metal. _Oh God,_ she thought in dismay, _Just give me a break!_

Magneto loomed over the teenager, frowning as he realised his attempt at weighing down all three X-Men had only succeeded in capturing Fox. Fox struggled in vain against the metal, but in her weak state it was futile, and she found herself shrinking before Magneto's enraged gaze.

The elder man said nothing – the fury in his eyes spoke for him. Bringing his fingers together in a swift movement, Fox gave a cry as the metal around her tightened, bruising her skin. Again she kicked and thrashed, but her restraints only grew tighter, now drawing blood from her flesh.

"I warned you," he began, "The consequences of getting in my way."

The teenager couldn't hold it in any longer, and another scream burst from her throat as the metal began to slice deeply into her waist. "_Stop it!_" she screeched, her frenzied writhing only succeeding in causing more pain.

A flicker, an orange flash – so swift and so beautiful that at first Fox thought she'd imagined it as her gaze blurred with pain. Flames, like tendrils, were climbing higher and higher around the room, surrounding herself and Magneto with a blazing wall of fire.

_Dying..._ the girl thought briefly, her vision distorting, her flesh warming.

Pyro stood tall and vindictive, arms outstretched, eyes ablaze. There was no time for Magneto to react as the wall of hellfire burst outward, flames of rage engulfing the room in a violent eruption. The fire manipulator stood at the centre of the firestorm, the flames bending to his every whim whilst his former leader gave cries of alarm. As Magneto was swallowed by Pyro's fiery wrath, the pyretic turned to the fallen girl, ensuring the sweltering heat did not reach her form.

Through the orange haze and the dancing flames, Fox was vaguely aware of the sharp meal coils around her body loosening, the sensation of somebody lifting her, and strange warmth enveloping her. She gathered enough strength to look upwards, and her gaze met with another pair of fiery eyes she knew, eyes she might have fallen in love with a long time ago. So much fire... energy... passion... Fox gave a soft, barely conscious smile as her head rolled back into Pyro's shoulder, and her vision went black.


	14. Back To Reality

As the rescue forces burst inside Magneto's metal barrier – the obstacle which had been separating them from human hostages for almost eighteen hours – there was no sign of either of the two alleged mutant terrorist groups. S.W.A.T teams swarmed inside the barrier like black locusts, their first goal to retrieve whatever human hostages had survived the ordeal. And miraculously – despite a bomb threat, virus scare, the inexplicable force field which had engulfed the building at some point, and finally the unexplained explosion from within the Senate building – there had been no human fatalities.

All human hostages were hauled safely from the Senate grounds as the building burned, some sustaining injuries, some merely shaken. And still there was no sign of either the mutant terrorist group which had attacked the Senate, nor what was rumoured to be a second mutant organisation, which allegedly arrived after the siege and attempted an intervention.

From within the burning building, far away from the commotion of the grounds, Pyro emerged, unnoticed. Despite being worn, grubby, and suffering some minor injuries, the elation of giving in to fire – becoming one with it – had acted as an energy boost for the teenager. The flames were a drug for Pyro, a stimulator, and his eyes were now blazing with life, his arms and legs moving with renewed vigour.

In his arms, however, Fox lay motionless, breathing normally but no longer responding to her environment. Her thick hair had long since abandoned the tight braid it had been pulled back into, and now spilled loosely across her face and arm; her X-Men suit had been damaged during Magneto's onslaught and the skin underneath was heavily bruised and lightly bloodied.

Stepping around rubble and debris carefully, and making a slow descent down what remained of a Senate wall, Pyro suddenly spotted Psylocke, who was lying unconscious a few feet away where he had left her, beneath some twisted metal. Still cradling Fox in his arms, Pyro cautiously approached the telepath, wondering how he could possibly get the two of them to safety, and briefly considering just leaving them both in a safe area and making a run for it. That's when Pyro noticed motion further past what remained of the metal barricade – the X-Men.

They were retreating. Rogue and Jubilee were leading the way, having selecting a discrete escape route in order to avoid a confrontation with human rescue forces. Iceman and Cyclops were following, each supporting one of Jean Grey's arms around their shoulders, with Iceman acting as Cyclops' eyes as they carefully lifted the severely wounded telepath through the barricade. Wolverine was supporting Storm – still out cold – and shouting instructions to Rogue and Jubilee, as well as Nightcrawler, who was frantically searching the remains of the burning building for Fox.

The X-Men were more than a team – Pyro knew that much both from experience and as he watched them work together now. They were a family. A family he never belonged to. For a moment Pyro felt an envious stab in his stomach as he witnessed the exchanges between them all – Rogue insisting on helping Jubilee who declared she was fine, Iceman carefully instructing Cyclops where to walk in the absence of his ruby visor whilst supporting Jean Grey, and Wolverine carrying Storm while scanning the building vainly for any sign of the missing Fox. This group of people genuinely cared for each other; they shared a bond that ran deeper than simply having the common desire of wanting to defeat mankind.

Pyro hated them for having what he would never have, loathed them for the path which he had chosen over them and felt the flames of rage within him ignite, grow and intensify...

Wolverine chose that moment to glance sharply across the remains of the south wall of the Senate, and he immediately recognised Pyro. Wolverine furrowed his brows in a dark glare, which intensified as he realised who Pyro was carrying in his arms. Barking something to Nightcrawler, Wolverine left Storm in the teleporter's care and stalked towards the fire manipulator, just as Fox began to stir.

"You little punk, what the _hell_ have you done?" Wolverine demanded, wanting to rip Pyro limb from limb not only for attacking the X-Men and possibly wounding Fox, but particularly after seriously injuring Jean Grey. There was a metallic _schnikt_ as his adamantinum claws unsheathed, and for a rare moment, Pyro was genuinely terrified.

"Wait, man-"

"Put her down_. **Now!**_"

Fox coughed suddenly, inadvertently ending the potential violence between Pyro and Wolverine. She reached out with a bloodied hand, disorientated and distressed, swiping at the air as if she were blind.

"Kurt?" she mumbled.

Wolverine wasted no time, retracting his claws and angrily snatching the girl from Pyro's arms as if she were a stolen stuffed toy. Fox's eyes were open now, and as her distorted vision fell on Pyro, who was standing with his arms still outstretched, Wolverine spoke his parting words.

"Listen to me, bub," he snarled. "If one – _just_ _one –_ of the X-Men don't make it on account of you – I'm coming after ya."

Unperturbed and barely listening, Pyro watched glassy-eyed as Wolverine stalked away with Fox in his arms. A tide of strange emotions washed over him as he watched the object of his one heroic deed carried away without so much as a 'goodbye'.

Finally Pyro turned to the unconscious Psylocke, keen to get them both to safety before they were discovered by a S.W.A.T team.

ooo

"Hope ya like the med wing, chica."

Fox's eyebrows met in a disorientated frown, and she had to blink several times against the harsh lights above before she could even register where she was.

Turning her head to the side – with considerable protest from her neck muscles – Fox caught sight of Jubilee sitting on a metal bench opposite, swinging her legs, popping gum, one arm in a sling.

"'Cos it looks like we're both gonna be here for a while. Just my luck, doncha know it? On an elite team of crime-fighting mutants that has no less than five superhero-material adults on board, _we're _the ones that get skeletal reconstructions dealin' with everything the Brotherhood can throw at us in one sitting. I mean seriously–"

As Jubilee jabbered on Fox tried to sit up, looking around in with some confusion. Every muscle in her torso throbbed and stung, and she could see a nice plum-coloured bruise covering the skin on her upper arm like a parasite. The white lights above gave the illusion that the room had no ceiling

"-we take down overgrown tomcats, razor-bitches and slimoids, and legally aren't allowed to have a beer? While the rest of the X-_Men_ are dancing around, it's the _X-Kids _that get it the worst! Well, at least I snapped my writing arm _before_ our chemistry test."

Fox moaned, and pulled herself upright, her muscles throbbing with a dull pain. "How long was I out?"

Jubilee popped her gum. "Overnight. And you're not supposed to go anywhere until Hank comes back, so don't even think about bailing."

Fox sighed. That was exactly what she wanted to do, but she had a funny feeling her limbs would fall to pieces if she tried to walk.

"Well, it's not like I can move anyway. And who the hell is Hank?"

"New doc. Apparently he's an ex-student. Wait till you see him – he's cool. _Dr McCoy_," Jubilee emphasised in a deep, gruff voice, before dissolving into giggles.

Fox gave Jubilee a quizzical look, not understanding what was so funny, and strained her neck to see who was lying on the far bench.

It was Dr. Grey. She was lying perfectly still, connected to more wires and electrodes than Fox could count, and wrapped in a strange, pale blue plastic dressing. Beside her was Scott, asleep with his head rested beside her shoulder and an arm draped over his face.

Jubilee followed Fox's gaze. "Yeah, Jeannie took a bit of a beating. Hank says she'll be ok though. He made those funky ice bandages for her burns and he's keeping her sedated until the worst of it's healed. Cyclops has been there all night."

Fox was silent, a guilty lump beginning to swell in her throat. As she watched Jean's monitors flicker her thoughts turned, for the first time, to the inflictor of those wounds. Fox had seen Pyro engulf Jean in flame: she witnessed the unfeeling hatred in his eyes herself. There was always that dark side to him – a place not even Fox could reach – and the thought of it turned her heart to ice. Was that the same man who'd saved her, who had kissed her so passionately, and told her that he needed her? Was she a traitor for still feeling for him after all the harm he'd caused her team-mates?

The steel doors slid open with a neat _click_, and Professor X wheeled inside, the look of concern on his face quickly hidden by a warm smile.

"Jubilee, Dakota, it's good to see you both awake and well," he greeted them, and despite everything that they had been through over the past twenty-four hours, under the Professor's gaze Fox felt completely safe.

"How's everyone else?" Fox suddenly asked, realising she had no idea what had happened since the virus had been destroyed. "What happened? I don't remember much…"

The Professor slowly approached the unconscious Jean, placing a gentle hand on the forehead of his first student. "Everyone else is fine, Dakota, Dr McCoy is working overtime to make sure of that. Iceman suffered some cuts and bruises, Rogue and Wolverine recovered more or less straight away on the way back, Jubilee here has had her broken arm patched up and needs her ankle looked at, Kurt fractured a rib, Storm and Cyclops are well and Jean is getting there."

"Ok," Fox breathed, watching as the Professor frowned slightly, concentrating over Jean's head. She was just about to ask what he was doing, when Jubilee interrupted.

"Hey, Fox?" she whispered, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the Professor. "I wanna ask you something."

"Yeah?"

Jubilee paused, glancing at the focussed Professor and Scott, who was still asleep. "Ok, I know this isn't a great time but I have to know. What happened to you after Kurt and Iceman got out of the Senate building? Kurt said he tried to take you with him, something went wrong…"

Fox remembered the ice-cold metal tendrils coiling around her – choking her, crushing her… She instinctively reached down for the bruises on her waist, tracing them with her fingertips. "Magneto tried to kill me."

"I figured. But then what?"

Fox paused, her mind blank. Everything after being crushed by those metal coils was a blur. "Then I was here, I guess."

Jubilee was quiet, even the rate at which she was chewing gum slowed somewhat.

'Why?" Fox asked, "What happened? Who got me out?"

"That's the thing. Uh, you might not know him, but there's this guy, another ex-student. Pyro…"

Fox felt her mouth go dry.

"He kinda ditched us for Mags a while ago… anyway, cut a long story short, we think he might have saved you. We're not exactly sure _why_, since he sure tried to kill the rest of us, so I was kinda hopin' you might fill me in."

Fox stared at her. She had no recollection of Pyro saving her, but a faint memory of fire and being lifted to safety seemed to confirm this was true. Making an effort to keep her voice steady, Fox replied, "I really don't know what happened, Jubes. Why would he save me?"

Jubilee eyed Fox suspiciously. "Something Wolverine said…"

"_What_?"

"Hey, don't bite my head off, chica. He just said he found Pyro carrying you off or somethin'. Asshole. You know he nearly killed Bobby? After pretending to be our friend for years…"

Fox sat back in a daze; each thought that entered her mind made a bigger impact than the last. _The virus was destroyed. I nearly died. Pyro saved my life. And he must have fought Magneto to do it. What does this mean?_

"Is he here?" she asked suddenly, too aware that she sounded overly eager.

Jubilee failed to notice, however, and replied, "Hell no. We don't know where he is. Or any of the others, for that matter…"

ooo

A/N: Hey. It's been years since I updated this, and both as a writer and a person I've grown and changed a lot. A while back I lost interest in this fic, hence I stopped posting, plus I went through some big transitional phases in my life so this lil fic got pushed back a bit on my priorities list. Seeing X3 inspired me to finally post the last chapters of this (although I actually completed this fic ages ago, so in terms of X3 it's pretty out-dated). Figured I might as well finish what I began!

Stylistically I've developed a lot (even in 2-3 years); so much so that it makes me cringe to read the earlier chapters of this! I hope you can see how much I've changed as well, because even though this is a mere fic, it (and other projects) has given me the practice I needed to really help me hone my skills as a writer. And YOU, readers, are the reason I did it.

So, thanks for bearing with me during my lazy stint! I really appreciate all the feedback and those of you who put me on your 'favourites' list. Sorry again for being so slack:)


	15. A Favour Returned

"Come on in, Dakota."

Fox slowly opened the mahogany door, peering around at Cyclops who was seated at his desk, apparently busy with paperwork. Fox hovered at the doorway for some time, until he finally looked up and gave her a wide smile.

"Well sit down, Miss Fitzgerald. And shut the door, will you?"

Fox shrugged and complied, approaching Scott's desk warily and sinking into the chair opposite. She had no idea why she had been summoned to Scott's office. It had been five months since the virus scare – five months since her last foray with the X-Men – and since then she just had been playing the regular student… whatever that meant at Xavier's, anyway. The academic year was drawing to a close, and despite getting off to a rocky start Fox was sure she hadn't stepped a toe out of line for months. Well, maybe the occasional toe.

"So, Dakota." Scott finally put the papers aside, placing his arms on the desk and leaning forward. He looked at her intently, although not in an intimidating way. "You're just about to sit your SATS. Your final year of school is coming to an end. Have you thought about what you'd like to do next year?"

Fox looked down. She hated that question. Secretly, she wanted to stay at Xavier's school forever – it was the safest and happiest she'd been for years. And although she'd done relatively well with her studies, Fox had deliberately neglected to establish long-term goals such as applying for college or getting some sort of job, pretending the day would never come when she'd have to leave for the Real World.

"Not really?" Scott gently answered for her. Fox frowned, and he quickly added, "That's ok, it's fine. Lots of students have no idea where to go from here. But I noticed you've avoided mentioning any plans for after school with your teachers, so I thought we'd have a talk."

Fox raised her eyebrows. Scott was much more perceptive than she gave him credit for. He really wasn't so bad – once Fox had gotten over her initial dislike for him she realised that he always had the best interests of his students at heart, as well as those of his colleagues. He was a kill-joy sometimes, but he wasn't the enemy anymore.

"Is there anything in particular you'd like to do?" he persisted. "You can do anything in the world. Name it."

Fox fixed her eyes on the spiral pattern that lined his desk; now that she was put on the spot, she unsure what to say. For once, at least.

"You can still board here and attend college in the city," Scott suggested. "We have a few students doing that already. You have to have a certain degree of control over your powers, of course, but you don't have a problem with that."

Dakota frowned, secretly thinking that she'd rather go back to the streets than endure another three years of study. She'd barely sat through her senior year – her grades were fine, but something about sitting in class for days on end grated on her patience like nothing else.

"I like it here… I'd like to stay here. But I haven't really thought about college. I don't know if it's for me."

Cyclops nodded understandingly. "Well, I do have a proposition for you."

"Yeah?"

He leaned back. "A few of your classmates are staying back next year and joining the staff. Peter, Marie and Jubilee want to get Art and Drama classes running for the kids, Bobby's going to join Jean, Hank and I teaching Maths, Chem and Bio."

"Bobby wants to teach Maths, Chem _and_ Bio?"

"Mmm. The school's growing, and we need more teachers helping out. Being a previous student, you're an ideal candidate."

Fox's eyes had lit up, but before she could interrupt Scott continued.

"The Professor and I have discussed the need for a Physical Education department. Gym, team sports, self-defence, health classes, that sort of thing. Colossus – I mean, Peter – has already expressed interest in getting these classes started. How would you like to help out?"

The teenager had leapt out of her seat in excitement. "This is _exactly_ what I want-"

Scott held up a hand, grinning. "Just a second, you. This is going to be a fulltime job. You and Pete will be organising the syllabus and classes from scratch, which is hard work. There'll be long hours, difficult students, and not much pay seeing as you're getting meals and board included."

"I don't care about the money-"

"You'll need to be able to work well with Peter as well as the other staff, and be able to anticipate the _particular_ needs of our students. I'll be supervising you both. And of course, there's also the staff's _extracurricular_ _activities_," he added meaningfully, and Fox was sure that underneath his ruby glasses, he winked. "Having made all this clear, are you _sure_ you're up for this?"

She didn't even blink. "_Yes_."

"Then I want a _written_, _formal_ _application_ for this position on my desk next week, clearly stating why you are the best candidate for the job, what skills you could bring to the position, and any work experience. I have some example cover letters you can go by-"

"I'm on it-"

"Should you pass the application process, you'll be attending an interview with either myself, the Professor or Ms. Munroe."

Fox looked sceptical. "But, aren't I the only person applying…?"

"We can't just hand the job to you on a platter, Fox. The other students applying for positions are going through the same process. It's really just an exercise to get you experience in job application, but we have to make sure you're seriously committed and capable of working with us."

"So, I've got the job, right?"

Scott gave her another grin, and tapped his desk with his index finger. "Application on my desk next week, Dakota. I'll see you in class."

She grinned back, slightly fazed about having to compose a job application, but thrilled nonetheless. This job offer was more than a formal invitation to stay at the school – it was an invitation to remain one of the X-Men. Everything she'd worked for, looked forward to and dreamed of over the past months had all come down to this moment. Suddenly the future was no longer an uncertain dark cloud hovering over her. As she opened the door she hesitated, then looked back at Scott over her shoulder.

"Scott?"

He looked up once more, not bothering to reprimand her for not using the more formal 'Mr. Summers'.

Fox gave him a rare, grateful smile. Her face was instantly transformed from its fierce good looks, to a more gentle beauty – perhaps what she would've looked like had she not been born with the X-gene, and had lived the normal, comfortable life she could have led.

"Thank you."

She slipped away before he could reply. Scott smiled to himself, confident he'd made the right decision.


	16. Blue Skies Ahead

A/N: Second-last chapter... nearly there!

ooo

_Life was meant to be lived like this._

Fox reclined on the soft grassy slope in the startlingly green school grounds, lazily watching the students at play. The sun shone brightly, forcing her to shade her eyes with Jubilee's abandoned magazine, while her limbs sprawled in all directions in an attempt to catch the rest of the rays. It was late in the afternoon – the Mutant High senior's last official day of school – and the summer holidays stretched out in front of them like a glorious, blue-skied eternity.

As if reading her thoughts, Rogue suddenly spoke up from beside her. "This is the life, huh?" She had relaxed against Bobby's chest, being careful not to make any skin-to-skin contact. She glanced at Fox, giving her a mischievous grin. "Lookin' forward to tonight?"

The Professor had arranged for all the seniors and staff to go out to dinner in the city to celebrate – but Rogue had arranged the after-party.

Fox returned the grin, and then lifted her eyes to meet Bobby's gaze. "Oh, yeah. And I want to get the silent, hard-working Peter absolutely _trashed_."

From the other side of Bobby, Colossus looked up from the sketch he was working on, giving Fox a good-humoured stare. "Hey, I go through vodka like water, whereas three drinks would do the trick for you, shorty. $20 says you'll have to be carried home."

"You're on, Tinman." Fox gave a short laugh, accidentally nudging the back of Jubilee's head with her knee.

Jubilee was lying on her back, nodding her head to music from underneath a sea of oversized accessories: sunglasses, hoop earrings, and a yellow bandanna. She sat up suddenly, spiky black hair flying everywhere, and popped one her earpieces out to catch what had just passed. "Huh? What was that?"

"Whoa – she's alive! I thought you were lost forever under there."

"We were just talkin' about tonight. You may return to your planet now, sugah."

"Shut up, lovebirds. Ick, you can't even _touch_ and you're making me sick! How do you do it?"

As they argued Fox stretched, then got to her feet, knocking the magazine to the ground. She'd felt a sudden urge to leave the school grounds – having lazed around most of the afternoon, the pent-up energy inside her was demanding to be released.

"Hey, you goin' to the bathroom?" Jubilee asked extra loudly, unable to hear over the volume of her iPod. "Cos I gotta go too."

"That's a real nice thing for the entire student body to know, Jubes."

"Shut _up_, Vanilla Ice!"

"Just going for a walk, actually," Fox cut in, shaking her legs. "I'll be back."

She turned and headed for the entrance gates, towards the sun.

ooo

"Hey, Foxy."

Fox stopped as if she'd been hit with a stun gun – her heart pounded, an invisible fist closed around her windpipe. Even after so long, that voice still had such an effect on her. She didn't know how this was possible – she didn't care – but she slowly allowed herself to turn around and stare.

Pyro was sitting on a low concrete wall in the shade, a motorcycle parked close by. His hair was lighter and cropped, and instead of the leather jacket he usually sported he was now in a simple t-shirt and jeans. But with his arms folded, an eyebrow raised and that playful grin on his face, he was exactly as she remembered. Only Fox had convinced herself that Pyro had never existed: partly because she wasn't entirely sure he _had_ existed, and partly because it was easier to forget him that way. Now here he was, and his presence was gradually disrupting her sense of self-control.

Getting the feeling that Fox would not be the first to break the silence, Pyro spoke. "Oh, that hurts. You don't even remember me?"

She stepped forward, looking him up and down, still incredulous. Those eyes, that smile – how could she possibly forget? There were too many questions, and not enough time to ask them. "What the… What are you doing here?"

He cocked his head, giving a slight shrug. "Why am I ever here? To see you."

She moved closer, he stood. They were almost face to face, each could hear the other's breathing quicken, but neither knew what to do. Fox finally calmed herself, giving Pyro a huge grin.

"You're game, flamer." She hugged him – it seemed like the right thing to do – and couldn't let go, pressing her face against his shoulder.

Pyro hadn't been expecting this, but slipped an arm around her waist anyway, moving his face away from the tangles of her hair.

"You're _hugging_ me after all the shit that went down?"

"I don't care. Besides," she looked up. "You saved my life at least twice."

He shrugged again, not keen on being labelled with heroics. In unison they broke away, shuffled, stared some more, and finally sat down together.

"So, I take it you're still with the X-Geeks in there," Pyro remarked, nodding his head towards the school. "How's that workin' out for ya?"

Fox narrowed her eyes. "No way, man. You're on my turf – I'm asking the questions."

Pyro grinned, leaning back and opening his arms wide. "Ok. You might not get a lot of answers though."

She pushed the hair out of her face, turning her body to face him. "I just want one. _What the hell happened to you?_"

He was silent, unsure where to start.

"It's been_ five months_, I thought you were _dead_. Did you get out ok? Are you still with Magneto? What have you been doing?"

"No," Pyro murmured. "I'm not with Magneto. I don't think he made it out of the Senate building."

Fox's eyebrows arched. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"So… there is no Brotherhood? Mystique, Dr Reyes, Deathstrike, Sabretooth…?"

"As far as I know, it's disbanded. I've been on my own for months. Well, Betsy – Psylocke – she helped me out a little, but I've pretty much been on the run, lying low. That's why I didn't come sooner."

Fox fidgeted with her hands while she absorbed this. "Why did you come?"

He met her gaze again, giving her a mischievous wink. "Well, now that I've given you _plenty_ of time to think, I need that answer."

"To what?" She knew what.

Pyro's face changed to serious. "Come with me."

She gave a quick laugh, trying to hide the red that had rushed to her cheeks. "Where?"

"Anywhere! There's no Brotherhood putting you off this time. It's just me, you, and the world."

He placed a hand on her knee as she looked away, glancing back at the school. She thought about the X-Men – where she belonged, and weighed it up with Pyro – who she… She couldn't bring herself to say the word.

"Fox…"

She looked to the sky, closing her eyes and feeling the warmth on her face. This was the hardest decision of her life – she was choosing between two sides of herself, the Fox who had happily beat up strangers in the street for money, who would do anything for a thrill, and the Fox who had changed, who now wanted to help others like herself.

So there was no Brotherhood for the meantime. But what about in the future? There were probably plenty of mutant organisations that resorted to terrorism, just like Magneto, and Pyro would find them. She and Pyro were two of a kind, yet they had conflicting beliefs. He would never return to the school, she would never leave it. If she did leave – as tempting as it was to just go with him – it would have to be for good.

She sighed and in that instant Pyro knew what her answer was.

"I can't come with you."

The words were like lead. His heart sank – here was yet another person who he'd lost, who would fade from his life like the others. As he went to move away, she caught his hand suddenly, pulling him closer. They stayed in this position, resting against each other.

"Maybe it's supposed to be like this," she suggested quietly, her lips against his neck.

Pyro knew exactly what she meant, and for one clear moment he understood – and forgave her. He traced a finger against the exposed skin of her back. "Is it the hair?"

She sniggered, toying with a newly-blond lock. "Yes, it was partly the hair."

They were silent, hiding behind the joke, neither wanting to let the other go.

"We'll keep running into each other," he murmured. "I got a funny feeling about that."

"Yeah, you've got a funny way of turning up."

"You've got a way of stumbling into trouble."

"You've got a way of _being_ trouble."

Pyro pulled his head back to look at her. He stared into her eyes – they were as big and dark as he remembered, and they stared back, unflinching. Fox grew uncharacteristically nervous – it had been so long, she didn't know what to make of him anymore. She gave an awkward laugh and looked down, but he quickly tilted her chin back up with his hand and kissed her. It was gentle, nothing like the hungry passion they'd shared before. It was a goodbye kiss.

Pyro kept his forehead close. "I guess this is it. It was fun, kid."

Fox opened her eyes and met his gaze, once more giving him that wicked grin. "That it was, kid."

They rose together, and Pyro turned and pulled the keys to his motorcycle out, fiddling with them uncertainly while Fox looked on.

"Hey," she suddenly called, reaching into the pocket of her shorts. "I almost forgot. I have something for you. I've been carrying this around for months."

Pyro looked up in interest, and Fox pressed something cool and metallic into his hand. His Zippo shark.

He stared. Since losing his prized lighter, he'd since acquired many more, but this was significant. "How did you…?"

"I kept it, after our fight. I wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to burn anyone else." She frowned. "What I can't figure out is how you caused the fire _afterwards_, the one that destroyed the building. If I had your Zippo the whole time, how did you do that?"

Pyro froze. He had never even thought about that; at the time he had been so consumed by rage it seemed irrelevant. "I guess I snatched the flame…" _From where?_

Fox watched him knit his brows, and answered for him. "I think you created it."

Pyro gaped, first at her, and then his lighter. He'd never been able to create flame before, he could barely remember doing it then, and hadn't been able to since. What did this mean?

She smiled and shrugged. "Just a thought. Keep at it." Winking, she turned away quickly, knowing he would disappear from her life soon and that she didn't want his last image of her to be standing there gaping at him, like some lovesick fish. _Just say it. Say the words! Oh, you chicken shit, you're never going to tell him, are you…_

"Listen," he interrupted her racing thoughts, "Why don't you just come for a ride? My peace offering. Even though you refuse to leave those geeks, I swear I'll never try to kill you again."

Laughing even though she knew she shouldn't, Fox turned and crossed her arms, inclining her head with a cheeky grin. "And the others?"

"Can't make any promises. But considering I'm out of action for a while, they're pretty safe." He swung a leg over the motorcycle, placing the keys in the ignition and pulling the throttle. "So?" he called over the engine, catching a glint of the setting sun in his hair.

There was no resisting a motorcycle ride with him. Without hesitating, Fox leapt onto the back. "Ok. One last ride."

She knew that this moment wouldn't last forever. The setting sun, the scent of his hair, the wind on her face… all of this would have to stay locked in her mind, a secret hidden. She knew that she'd eventually wind up back at the school, where she'd chosen to stay, and that he would be gone, nothing but an imprint on her heart.

But right now, as Pyro pulled out of the clearing and roared down the road, they didn't care: it was him, her and the world.


	17. Epilogue

"Ok everybody – line up shortest to tallest."

With a murmur, the motley bunch of children rose from the carpet, arguing as they tried to organise themselves into a straight line. Their teacher stood with her arms crossed over her white tank top, tangles of messy dark hair almost obscuring her face. At a glance she appeared no older than the students, who ranged in between anything from ten years old to their late teens. The only thing indicative of her higher status was her bossy attitude and the silver whistle hanging around her neck – otherwise she was just as small as some of the new kids.

"All right," she interrupted, impatient with the proceedings, "That's fine. Now when I give you a number, remember it."

She tapped the head of the closest child – a young boy named Sam Guthrie who had accidentally demolished a wall earlier. "One…"

"Two. Three. Guys, these people are team leaders. Once you get your own number, line up behind whichever leader your number matches. O_ne_ – voice _down_, Theresa! _Two_… _three_…"

A flicker, an orange flash, caught her eye as she paused above the next student. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the school grounds, the young teacher fixed her gaze on the horizon. The sky was empty – was it her imagination?

One of the students shyly interrupted her reverie. "Miss Fitzgerald?"

She blinked, hard. "Where was I up to? Danielle? Right, Dani you're a _one_. Rahne – _two_. _Three_, _one_, _two_ – no, don't just line up behind your friends, girls. _Three_…"

Again! In the clear blue sky, she thought – she was sure – she saw a brief image of a bird. A flaming bird – larger than life, but too distant to have drawn the attention of any of the other students.

"Uh… _one,_ _two, three_ – Jamie, one of you is enough, kid, merge back together – _one, two_ – Tabitha, do it and I'll send you straight to Logan for detention – _three_. Is that everyone?"

As they all looked at her expectantly, Fix scanned the room, making sure she hadn't missed any invisible or shrinking kids. That's when she suddenly realised the significance of the firebird image. Something he had told her the day he left…

Fox shook herself, and took charge of the class again. "Ok guys, now you're in teams, you know the rules."

The bird was a signal. A message for her.

"Once you're tagged, you're out. Only _your_ team-mates can get you back into the game."

He was back, and he wanted to see her.

"No bullying, no name-calling, no put-downs, and _no powers_." She paused and gave them a cheeky wink. "Not for the first round, anyway."

_FWEET!_ As she blew her whistle a collective shriek rose amongst the students as they frantically began sprinting and chasing each other in a frenzy of mutant chaos. Fox placed a gentle hand on the arm of her co-teacher Colossus, who had been watching the proceedings sternly to make sure nobody got too carried away.

"Hey Pete, can you watch the class for the next 10? There's something I gotta do."

Peter Rasputin gave a nod, not questioning her abrupt departure. He was good like that, although Fox caught a glint of concern in his eyes. "Of course."

Walking swiftly away from the screams of laughter and howls of '_Hey, she said no powers!'_ Fox raised a hand to her neck, toying with the chain of the whistle and grinning softly to herself. She knew where to find him.

This wasn't the end. It was just the beginning.

* * *

_Epilogue _

Fox graduated and accepted a position on the teaching staff of Xavier's school for the gifted. She, Iceman, Rogue, Colossus and Jubilee are active members of the school, and of the X-Men.

Dr Reyes' body was recovered at the site of the attack. Toad was apprehended, but Mystique, Lady Deathstrike, and Sabretooth remain at large.

After the Brotherhood attack, the US government founded the Department of Mutant Affairs, dedicated to voicing the needs and promoting the well-being of the mutant community. Since its establishment, tensions between mutant and human organisations country-wide have lessened. Professor Xavier, Scott Summers and Dr. Jean Grey are regular advisors.

Pyro recently travelled to Australia on unfinished business. He continues to stay in contact with his only ally, Psylocke: together they plan to one day reform the Brotherhood of Mutants. He remains wanted for terrorist charges by the FBI - his current whereabouts are unknown. He occasionally visits Fox outside of the school, but their relationship is uncertain.

Magneto lives.


End file.
